Federal and State Policy Opportunities to Improve Indoor Air Quality

The United States has significant opportunities to ensure buildings have clean indoor air. Federal and state governments can promote health-based indoor air quality (IAQ) targets, provide guidance and technical assistance, fund ventilation improvements, incentivize or require IAQ standards in public buildings, and work alongside industry and state and local partners to promote best IAQ practices. Despite the demonstrated health, economic, and national security benefits of improved IAQ, there has been limited progress in advancing clean indoor air across buildings in the United States. There is no comprehensive roadmap for federal and state policy actions. In this commentary, we offer a suite of policy options to improve IAQ that focus on establishing health-based IAQ targets, supporting state and local actions to adopt IAQ standards and policies, implementing sector-specific guidelines, and expanding IAQ research and development. This paper presents a spectrum of policy approaches, recognizing that different jurisdictions and sectors will have unique needs and constraints.