1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; establishing a fund to promote healthy environments for 
1.3 	learning and teaching; appropriating money.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. HEALTHY LEARNING AND TEACHING ENVIRONMENTS.
 1.6 	(a) Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year and later, the commissioner of education 
1.7 	must establish a fund to promote a healthy learning and teaching environment for students, 
1.8 	teachers, and educational staff; reduce absenteeism due to illness; improve staff morale; 
1.9 	increase teacher and staff retention; and improve overall student performance in kindergarten 
1.10 	through grade 12 schools.
1.11 	(b) money from the fund must be used specifically to procure and install in-ceiling active 
1.12 	upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices, to remove virus, bacteria, 
1.13 	fungus, and mold from indoor spaces where people gather.
1.14 	(c) The devices must:
1.15 	(1) demonstrate an effective removal of on average 80 to 88 percent of the total bacteria 
1.16 	measured in the air and an average 64 percent on non-high-touch surfaces in representative 
1.17 	field studies. In addition, laboratory studies of the product must include gram-negative 
1.18 	bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, fungi, viral surrogates, and SARS-CoV-2, which are 
1.19 	representative of the most common airborne pathogens such as COVID-19, influenza, RSV, 
1.20 	and rhinovirus;
1.21 	(2) focus on room-level disinfection or treatment and must operate independently from 
1.22 	the HVAC system, not as part of the central HVAC system;
2.1 	(3) continuously and safely draw in-room air through a series of fans into a sealed 
2.2 	chamber where pathogens are neutralized using UVGI. Clean, treated air must be returned 
2.3 	directly back to the same room in less than one second;
2.4 	(4) not generate or add chemicals or ions to the environment;
2.5 	(5) have the capability for tracking and monitoring maintenance requirements, 
2.6 	performance, and additional environmental conditions, such as CO2, VOCs, CO, or particles, 
2.7 	as appropriate. The system must have the capability to operate independently, via the Internet, 
2.8 	or integrate with common building maintenance systems; and
2.9 	(6) include maintenance parts for at least five years of operation and must be serviced 
2.10 	at a minimum of 12-month intervals.

2.11 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION; FUNDING HEALTHY LEARNING AND TEACHING 
2.12 	ENVIRONMENTS.
 2.13 	$20,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner 
2.14 	of education to fund school districts who apply to procure and install approved active 
2.15 	upper-room UVGI pathogen removal devices.