Compromise lead paint bill kicks in Nov.1

The legislation still requires passage by the full House and the Senate.

Thursday, June 23, 2005, BY PETER B. LORD Journal Environment Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Landlords might mark their calendars for Nov. 1 as the date to start complying with the state's new lead paint safety regulations. But they probably should use a pencil.

Just when it seemed no one could forge a compromise between supporters of the new regulations and critics, the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services unanimously endorsed a compromise bill that leaves both sides just a little uncomfortable.

Committee Chairwoman Elizabeth H. Roberts, D-Cranston, said she expected a floor amendment and more negotiations with House leaders. But she said there seems to be general agreement with two main points in the bill: the enactment date of Nov. 1 and exemptions for many landlords who were previously affected.

One after another, committee members praised and thanked Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, for her leadership of a study commission whose work contributed to the bill. But Perry warned, "It's not over yet. Many things can still happen."

In fact, the House voted last month to delay implementation until Dec. 31, so one side or the other will have to compromise on the date.

The committee held a hearing on the revised bill last night, and it was nothing like previous hearings in which angry apartment owners exchanged harsh words with child-health advocates.

For a few moments, it even appeared that John Bentz, head of the Rhode Island Apartment Owners Association and an outspoken critic, might have come around.

He offered line by line suggestions and corrections of the proposed bill. Then he put it down and declared that the bill allows insurance companies to declare an open season on landlords by increasing premiums.

"I strongly recommend putting this over until next year," Bentz said. He said nobody in his association wants to poison children. But the association feels there should be a dual track in the regulations, one for the landlords who have harmed childen and another for those who don't.

Besides, he said, the legislature now seemed to be rushing things at the end of its session.

Roberts stopped Bentz right there. Work on the bill has been going on for five months, she said. And she said she would be offended by anyone trying to characterize yesterday's work as "rushing the bill through at the end."

Said Bentz: "But the current legislation remains somewhat onerous."

Maybe so, Roberts replied. But it is a concerted effort to make apartments safe before children are poisoned, rather than responding only after children are sickened.

The new regulations, already postponed for a year, are now set to go into effect July 1. They are proactive in that they require owners of apartments built before 1978, when lead paints were used, to take three-hour awareness courses and to have the apartments inspected.

The latest bill not only delays implementation of the regulations, it exempts many landlords. Previously exempted were landlords who lived in two-family houses. The bill extends the exemption to owner-occupied four-family houses.

It also exempts apartments rented to college students or the elderly, seasonal rentals of up to 100 days, and properties where there is no tenant turnover.

More than 16 people testified in favor. They ranged from nursing students to housing advocates and representatives of the state Health Department and the state Housing Commission.

Dr. K. Nicholas Tsiongas, prime sponsor of the state's initial lead poisoning program in the early 1990s, offered his support, though he said he wished triple-deckers were not being exempted.

"Rhode Island remains a place with a great concentration of lead hazards," Tsiongas said. "This legislation targets homes that have not been kept up."

Several said they wished the regulations were allowed to go ahead as scheduled on July 1.

"You passed legislation two years ago that was the best in the nation," said John Nimmo, a lead awareness instructor. "But because of misinformation and out-and-out lies, you've been postponing them."

The bill still needs to face the full Senate, and the House.

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