As communities across the country endure heat waves during the hottest summer on record, 400,000 people in Michigan went without power last week.

Power outages are deadly in 95-degree weather, and with climate change, we must make critical infrastructure updates for climate resilience. But many utilities are failing to do so, particularly leaving behind Black and brown communities in a process known as “utility redlining.”

Vulnerable communities are disproportionately harmed by power outages and water shutoffs in multiple ways. Communities of color and low-wealth communities spend a greater portion of their income on ever-increasing utility bills. And elderly and disabled people who rely on electric medical equipment and refrigerated medication are particularly at risk.

As extreme weather events increase with climate change, we need to build resilient power systems that work for everyone. It’s time to change the conversation around what we all deserve, take the profit motive out of providing the basics of a good life, and give everyone the opportunity to thrive.

That’s why Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced the Resolution Recognizing the Human Rights to Utilities, which asserts that affordable and reliable utilities are a human right, and demands an end to utility shutoffs and the cancellation of household utility debt. It recognizes access to water, sanitation, electricity, heating, cooling, public transit, and broadband communications as basic human rights and public services.

Rashida also introduced the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act, which would stop utility shutoffs, restore disconnected service, end sales of household utility debt to debt collectors, and eliminate household debt for essential utility services like power and water.

Please sign if you agree: Congress must pass bills like the Resolution Recognizing the Human Rights to Utilities and the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act.