If you want to follow up, stay in touch with the new enormous lead bill and possibly respond to it, then read on.
If not you can skip this email entirely.
The lead commission is meeting and continuing its action.
The good news is there is good landlord participation on the commission. And recent meetings have seen very good work on both sides to come to agreement on something that is approaching being workable.
We’ve attempted to summarize this for you but the bill is huge, complicated and not easy to condense.
Immediately below this email is:
A summary of the original bill & second draft bill.
A summary of where we are at now.
Attached is:
161129 Commission lead provisions.doc
Actual language of several provisions.
161222LeadLanguageWithSomeLandlordNotes.doc
Some of the latest proposals still being worked on.
Send back your thoughts.
161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc
We have not been given the language that is being submitted with the LSR (bill actually going to legislature). Perhaps that is because parts of it are still being drafted.
Included in this file is what would seem to be included in the final bill based on commission discussions, votes and language in place at the time of voting.
Action items to help and be part of the solution:
1. Review the enclosed and attached information
2. Send back your comments.
We’d like to know you are in agreement with our positions on each section in the bill.
Please note the original & second drafts were mostly prepared by tenant & lead advocates.
Let me know if you want to be on the frequent update list which will be getting more updates, especially over the next few weeks as we continue to work on final bill language.
Love & Light,
Nick Norman
Director of Legislative Affairs
=======
Summary of the original bill & second draft bill
These points are extremely oversimplified to give you the flavor of what was in original drafts of the bill.
Minimum Housing Standards, RSA 48-A:14
Added property may not have loose, peeling, chipping, chalking or flaking lead-based paint
water lines may not have high lead in water
…
Prohibited Practices
RSA 540-A:3 to include that
No landlord of pre-1978 rental housing shall allow the presence of loose, peeling, chipping, chalking or flaking lead-based paint or
have high lead in water
or fail to comply with essential maintenance practices and applicable public health laws and regulations concerning lead.
…
Remedies for Prohibited Practices
RSA 540-A:4
Landlord subject to injunctive relief for not addressing lead in paint or water and civil penalties to tenant if not complying with injunctive relief.
…
Lead in water testing
Landlord required to test for lead in water and required to remediate for lead in water. Using filters for lead remediation is allowed.
…
Tenants must comply with written instructions to prepare for remediation of a lead hazard.
…
Tenant may be evicted for willful creation of a lead hazard
…
Day Care license
Can be suspended, revoked or denied if not following Essential Maintenance practices or other lead laws (RRP).
Must test for lead in water.
…
Blood Lead Level, BLL, of action
Drop BLL from 10 ug/dl to 5 ug/dl
Projections have been that this would cause the number of lead orders to sky rocket from 75 /year to any where from 600 to 7000/year.
Also, DHHS must conduct investigation (which leads to lead order) when DHHS believes there is a lead hazard.
…
RRP
NH DHHS would take over running the RRP including rule making authority.
…
Essential Maintenances Practices, EMP
Would be mandatory for pre-1978 rental properties and childcare facilities
Tiny incentive, “carrot”, offered that property owner shall not be liable to a tenant of the property for any warranty of habitability claim related to exposure to lead.
…
Building permits, enforcement
Building permit would require a certification that RRP will be used if disturbing lead.
Building officials can coordinate with DHHS to enforce RRP.
Building official may shutdown a job if they believe RRP is not being followed.
…
Lead Poisoning Prevention fund
Expanded to include the very non-descript “and other designated activities” & replacement of lead pipes.
…
Public Water Systems and Privately Owned Redistribution Systems
Will have to inspect their systems for lead pipes and eliminate lead pipes within one year.
…
Paint can fee
Established to raise money for lead remediation and prevention of childhood lead poisoning.
…
Notifying Purchasers of Real Property
Added wording to notifications including lead in water
…
BLL testing
Move all NH municipalities to universal testing meaning all 1 & 2 years old children would be tested for lead.
No child admitted to public school without having had a prior lead test.
=======
Summary of where we are at now
Perhaps the most major pieces of forward movement are:
(see 161222LeadLanguageWithSomeLandlordNotes.doc)
changing the lead order process from the present abate entire building with abatement rules all at once method (whole building approach) to a method of abating the subject unit with abatement rules and perhaps the remainder using RRP rules (graduated approach). (Still being drafted).
And EMP would be moved from mandatory to voluntary unless a child had an elevated lead level. The incentive “carrot” is a little stronger by adding “the owner shall not be liable for breach of warranty of habitability relative to lead-based paint and shall be entitled to a rebuttable presumption of having exercised due care relative to preventing lead hazard exposures.”
And notification would be given to the landlord at ANY venous BLL which gives owners more early alerts to be proactive without lead orders and prevent the child’s level from going higher.
In exchange for that, actions would be taken for children measuring >=5ug/dl and <10 .="" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1483125560342_32981" span=""> However, those actions could be done in a common sense plan using RRP rules. If however, the child did not improve then abatement rules would kick in. This allows the “good” landlord to handle the situation reasonably at a much lower cost with out a lead order.
The interaction of these components is still being drafted.
Your input would be helpful.
…
Dropped.
Minimum Housing Standards, RSA 48-A:14
…
Not sure about this section. It appears to be dropped.
Prohibited Practices
RSA 540-A:3 to include that
No landlord of pre-1978 rental housing shall allow the presence of loose, peeling, chipping, chalking or flaking lead-based paint or
have high lead in water
or fail to comply with essential maintenance practices and applicable public health laws and regulations concerning lead.
…
Not sure about this section. It appears to be dropped.
Remedies for Prohibited Practices
RSA 540-A:4
Landlord subject to injunctive relief for not addresses lead in paint or water and civil penalties to tenant if not complying with injunctive relief.
…
survived.
Lead in water testing
(for child care See 161129 Commission lead provisions.doc)
(for landlords see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Landlord required to test for lead in water and required to remediate for lead in water. Using filters for lead remediation is allowed.
Many troubling provisions here. We are against this section relating to landlords and feel first efforts at lead in water should be with the companies supplying the water.
Note this section would require testing for every new tenancy.
…
survived.
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Tenants must comply with written instructions to prepare for remediation of a lead hazard.
…
survived.
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Tenant may be evicted for willful creation of a lead hazard
…
Not sure if this section survived or not. Need to see final language with LSR
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Day Care license
Can be suspended, revoked or denied if not following Essential Maintenance practices or other lead laws (RRP).
Must test for lead in water.
…
survived.
(see 161222LeadLanguageWithSomeLandlordNotes.doc)
Blood Lead Level, BLL, of action
…
survived.
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
RRP
NH DHHS would take over running the RRP including rule making authority.
We are against this provision. However, notice that the current draft addresses one of our concerns by limiting DHHS so they can not “tighten” the RRP rule but only enforce it which includes certifications and fees.
…
(see 161222LeadLanguageWithSomeLandlordNotes.doc)
Essential Maintenances Practices, EMP
…
Appear to be dropped.
Building official RRP enforcement
survived.
(See 161129 Commission lead provisions.doc)
Building permit would require a certification that RRP will be used if disturbing lead.
Actually we view this as good. Everyone should be using RRP if it would normally be required anyway.
…
Unsure, guessing this section survived.
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Lead Poisoning Prevention fund
Expanded to include the very non-descript “and other designated activities” & replacement of lead pipes.
The troubling part is DHHS wants to tap the fund for things that would grow the size of their department and are not lead remediation.
…
survived.
Public Water Systems and Privately Owned Redistribution Systems
(See 161129 Commission lead provisions.doc)
Water systems will have more time.
We think this is important and should be the first step.
In other words, make sure the water being delivered to our properties is good before we are required to remediate lead in water which might not be from our building but actually delivered to us with lead in the water already.
However, the wording seems weak. Water systems have to make reasonable efforts but don’t have to excavate to prove anything. Still it is a good start.
…
Survived and expanded.
(see 161230 Unconfirmed lead provisions.doc)
Paint can fee
Established to raise money for lead remediation and prevention of childhood lead poisoning.
We are naturally in favor of this. We were able to move the commission from a recommendation of 2.5 million to 3 million and include that the 3 million would be achieved through a paint can fee and an allocation from the general fund. We have been in support of the fee being $1/gallon and adamant that the money only be spent on lead remediation.
There is a proposal that this fund be administered using a simple voucher system that would effectively give landlords a flat price per window, per door etc. Current talk is about reimbursing approximately 50% of average labor and materials. The reimbursement would be for landlords that voluntarily comply with Essential Maintenance Practices and are proactive at remediating lead hazards.
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