An Act protecting public health and reducing health care costs

This bill requires the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to create a specialized assessment tool that calculates the health impacts and costs of pollution from electricity and fuel sources. The tool must specifically measure effects on vulnerable communities, the state's health insurance program, hospitals, and the overall budget, while also tracking benefits from energy efficiency and renewable energy. Once developed, the department must update this tool every three years and ensure that all new state policies regarding energy, buildings, transportation, and waste explicitly factor in its findings. Within one year of the bill taking effect, the department must submit the completed tool and instructions on how to use it to state officials and legislative clerks.