As climate change ravages populations across America with damaging flooding, intense forest fires, and long-lasting droughts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been quick to respond with nearly 20,000 employees and billions of dollars. However, that has not been the case for a natural disaster ravaging the Southwest and Arizona: extreme heat. FEMA has failed to designate extreme heat as a natural disaster and thus denied funding, assistance, and programs to protect our most vulnerable communities from extreme heat.

Even though the United States Environmental Protection Agency has quantified extreme heat deaths to be 1,400+ each year and flooding, a designated natural disaster, deaths to be 100+ each year, FEMA has failed to protect Americans and Arizonians from heat stress. Heavy death tolls for any weather event are a DISASTER; let's treat it as such. 

In fact, in a new study by the New York Times, if a blackout occurred during a heat wave in Phoenix, more than 12,000 people would die, and close to 800,000 people would need emergency care for heat-related illnesses overwhelming hospitals and the city's health infrastructure.

Join Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, and the youth-led climate Sunrise Movement in passing the bi-partisan Extreme Heat Emergency Act to ensure that local governments are not left to deal with the natural disaster that is extreme heat alone.

Formally Endorsed By:

AZ LD 12 Rep. Stacey Travers, AZ LD 22 Rep. Leezah Sun,AZ LD 18 Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, AZ LD 26 Rep. Cesar Aguilar, AZ LD 11 Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, AZ LD 08 Rep. Melody Hernandez, AZ LD 09 Rep. Lorena Austin, AZ LD 09 Rep. Lorena Austin, AZ LD 23 Rep. Mariana Sandoval, AZ LD 26 Rep. Quanta Crews