Ohio lawmakers are moving to drag a silent, invisible threat out into the open in every school building across the state. On Monday, legislators introduced House Bill 820, a measure from Rep. Kellie Deeter that would require radon testing in all public and private school buildings and tie that mandate to both homeowner tax breaks and a multi-million-dollar pot of money to get the work done. The bill lays out a statewide testing schedule and says only licensed professionals can do the job.
What the Bill Would Require
Under HB 820, the Department of Education and Workforce would sort Ohio school districts into four equal groups. Every freestanding school facility used for educational, athletic or extracurricular activities would have to complete an initial round of radon testing within four years after the law takes effect.
After that, any follow-up testing would have to follow the American National Standards Institute protocol MA-MFLB-2023, and the work could only be done by individuals licensed under Chapter 3723 of state law. Those specifics are spelled out in the bill text posted by the Ohio Legislature.
Funding and Homeowner Incentives
To pay for the school testing program, HB 820 directs $14,000,000 to the Ohio Department of Health’s Environmental Health and Radiation Protection program. That money is meant to cover the logistics and costs of testing school buildings across the state.
The bill also reaches beyond school walls. It creates a refundable tax credit of up to $2,000 for homeowners who buy and install a licensed radon mitigation system. The credit could be claimed against both the personal income tax and the commercial activity tax, but only once per street address, and it would apply starting with tax years in 2027. Those financial details are outlined in reporting by the Scioto Valley Guardian.
Why Radon Matters in Ohio
Radon is an odorless, colorless radioactive gas that does not care whether it is seeping into a basement rec room or an elementary school classroom. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates it causes about 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the country every year.
Ohio has been on the worry list for a long time. State data and local reporting have found that roughly half of all homes tested in Ohio show elevated radon readings, a troubling pattern highlighted by investigative work in the state. For more background on the health risks, see the EPA and reporting by The Columbus Dispatch.
How Schools and Communities Could Respond
HB 820 would require testing in every freestanding building a school owns or controls, including classrooms, gyms, fieldhouses and other routinely used spaces, and it directs districts to coordinate logistics with the state director of health. The idea is straightforward: kids and staff spend long weekdays inside those buildings, and officials do not want a cancer-causing gas quietly building up beneath them.
Local data cited in coverage show some counties with especially high shares of elevated radon results, which is part of what is driving the push to cover all those structures. Districts would have a four-year window to get the initial round of tests done, and supporters say the state appropriation is meant to help districts that do not have the local dollars to pay for new testing programs, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian.
Next Steps
For now, HB 820 has been introduced and sent to committee, where hearings and amendments are expected as it moves through the Ohio House. The bill’s status is being tracked on LegiScan, and the text specifies that the school testing requirement would kick in once the law is enacted.
Advocates backing the proposal say a funded, statewide program could finally replace the current patchwork of local efforts with a routine public health practice, turning radon testing from an occasional project into something Ohio schools simply do.
