---
kind: "section"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 3601"
title: "20"
title_heading: "Education"
number: "3601"
heading: "Congressional statement of findings and purposes"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/20/3601"
units:
  - "Chapter 49 — Asbestos School Hazard Detection and Control"
---

# §3601. Congressional statement of findings and purposes

- (a) The Congress finds that—
  - (1) exposure to [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers has been identified over a long period of time and by reputable medical and scientific evidence as significantly increasing the incidence of cancer and other severe or fatal diseases, such as asbestosis;
  - (2) medical evidence has suggested that children may be particularly vulnerable to environmentally induced cancers;
  - (3) medical science has not established any minimum level of exposure to [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers which is considered to be safe to individuals exposed to the fibers;
  - (4) substantial amounts of [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1), particularly in sprayed form, have been used in [school buildings](/usc/20/3610.md?p=6), especially during the period 1946 through 1972;
  - (5) partial surveys in some [States](/usc/20/3610.md?p=8) have indicated that (A) in a number of [school buildings](/usc/20/3610.md?p=6) materials containing [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers have become damaged or friable, causing [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers to be dislodged into the air, and (B) [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) concentrations far exceeding normal ambient air levels have been found in [school buildings](/usc/20/3610.md?p=6) containing such damaged materials;
  - (6) the presence in [school buildings](/usc/20/3610.md?p=6) of friable or easily damaged [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) creates an unwarranted hazard to the health of the school children and school employees who are exposed to such materials;
  - (7) the [Department](/usc/20/1221.md?p=c-3) of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as several [States](/usc/20/3610.md?p=8), have attempted to publicize the potential hazards to school children and employees from exposure to [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers, but there is no systematic program for identifying hazardous conditions in schools or for remedying those conditions;
  - (8) because there is no Federal health standard regulating the concentration of [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers in noncommercial workplace environments such as schools, school employees and students may be exposed to hazardous concentrations of [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers in the [school buildings](/usc/20/3610.md?p=6) which they use each day;
  - (9) without an improved program of information distribution, technical and scientific assistance, and financial support, many [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4) and [States](/usc/20/3610.md?p=8) will not be able to mitigate the potential [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) hazards in their schools; and
  - (10) the effective regulation of interstate commerce for the protection of the public health requires the establishment of programs under this chapter to identify and mitigate hazards from exposure to [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) fibers and materials emitting such fibers.
- (b) It is the purpose of this chapter to—
  - (1) direct the [Secretary](/usc/20/3610.md?p=7) of Education to establish a task force to assist [States](/usc/20/3610.md?p=8) and [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4) to ascertain the extent of the danger to the health of school children and employees from [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) materials in schools;
  - (2) require [States](/usc/20/3610.md?p=8) receiving administrative funds for any [applicable program](/usc/20/1221.md?p=c-1) (as defined under [section 1221(c)(1)(A)](/usc/20/1221.md)[^1] of this title) to prepare a plan describing the manner in which information relating to programs established under this chapter shall be distributed to [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4);
  - (3) provide scientific, technical, and financial assistance to [State educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=9) and [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4) to enable them to conduct an [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) detection program to identify [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) hazards in schools;
  - (4) provide loans to [local educational agencies](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4) for the mitigation of [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) hazards which constitute an [imminent hazard to the health and safety](/usc/20/3610.md?p=3) of school children and employees; and
  - (5) assure that no employee of any [local educational agency](/usc/20/3610.md?p=4) suffers any disciplinary action as a result of calling attention to potential [asbestos](/usc/20/3610.md?p=1) hazards which may exist in schools.

## Footnotes

[^1]: See References in Text note below.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–270, § 2, June 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 487.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

Section 1221 of this title, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), was amended generally by Pub. L. 103–382, title II, § 211, Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3912, and, as so amended, no longer contains a subsec. (c)(1)(A). However, the term “applicable program” is defined in subsec. (c)(1) of that section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 96–270, § 1, June 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 487, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter and amending section 1411 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Asbestos School Hazard Detection and Control Act of 1980’.”