Bill 86 explained in plain English

Ontario Bill 86 establishes an advisory committee to recommend improvements to indoor air quality standards and regulations in non-residential workplaces and public settings to protect against airborne disease transmission.

Bill 86 creates the Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario's People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics. The Standing Committee on Social Policy must establish this advisory committee within 60 days of the Act coming into force. The advisory committee will be composed of members appointed by the Standing Committee on Social Policy. It must include people from diverse backgrounds and expertise, such as epidemiologists, occupational hygienists, engineers, architects, building ventilation specialists, indoor air quality researchers, nurses, health care workers, disabled people, small business owners, unionized education workers, and service-sector workers. The committee must also make reasonable efforts to include representatives from groups particularly vulnerable to airborne diseases, including immunocompromised persons, seniors, Indigenous persons, Black persons, other racialized communities, disabled persons, people experiencing homelessness, essential workers, and migrant workers. The advisory committee's main job is to make recommendations to the Minister of Health and the Standing Committee on Social Policy about how to improve Ontario's infrastructure, regulations, and standards for indoor air quality in non-residential workplaces and public settings. Specifically, the committee will examine how to modify building codes and maintenance standards, educate the public about indoor air quality, provide subsidies to small businesses to improve air quality, ensure fair protection for vulnerable populations, expand workplace insurance coverage for airborne disease exposure, ensure availability of personal protective equipment and respirators, establish regulations for hazard assessments and disease control measures, collect and communicate airborne disease transmission data, and ensure workplace health and safety committees address airborne disease prevention. The committee must report its recommendations within six months of being established. Within 90 days of receiving these recommendations, the Minister of Health must inform the Legislative Assembly which recommendations the government plans to implement. Within one year of that, the Minister must report to the Assembly on the progress made in implementing those recommendations. Committee members may receive remuneration and expense reimbursement if the Legislature appropriates money for this purpose. The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.