1.     Update Licensing Requirements

    A.    Less frequent license renewal.

The Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management (IDEM) requires annual refresher training. For risk assessors, this means two days of refresher training every year when the initial training was five days long. EPA requires renewal every three years depending on the type of training. The requirements and technology don’t change that often to warrant annual training. HB-1171 adopts EPA’s timing. Licenses issued before July 1, 2002 will expire on June 30, 2004. Licenses issued after then expire in three years. The maximum fee for a license is $150 every three years.

    B.     Clearance examiner license.

EPA and HUD created a licensing category called "Clearance Examiner" or "Sampling Technician." A person with this license can take a five-hour training course and be allowed to take samples of lead-dust and conduct a visual assessment of the work. HB-1171 requires that the Air Pollution Control Board and IDEM establish a clearance examiner licensing program by July 1, 2003 consistent with EPA’s recommendations and HUD’s rule.

This change should reduce the costs to Indiana landlords who want to get Section 8 and other tenants back into an apartment as quickly as possible.

2.    Prohibit Dangerous Activities

Certain practices such as sanding and burning lead-based paint are extremely likely to release significant amounts of lead-dust into the air. This dust is often invisible, yet, poses an tremendous threat to children because they can absorb into their body easily where it can cause permanent damage to their brain. The result can be lower IQ levels, increased violent behavior, and contribute to attention deficiency disorders.

HUD bans a list of six practices in all HUD-assisted property where the work exceeds a de minimis threshold. OSHA also effectively prohibits these activities by requiring extensive worker protection requirements when they are used. This OSHA requirement is commonly ignored because of the indirect and confusing language it uses.

HB-1171 extends the HUD list of prohibited activities to all work in residences and child-occupied facilities built before 1960 except as noted in box below.

HB-1171 should not impose any additional burdens on contractors since these activities are effectively prohibited already by HUD and OSHA. IDEM may incur some additional costs to enforce the prohibitions. But since the program should be complaint-driven, these costs should not be significant.

3.     Require Cleanup of Exterior Paint Debris

Exterior paint often contains the highest levels of lead -- with lead concentrations reaching 30%. And lead was used in exterior paint long after its use inside stopped. When maintenance or renovation work is done on homes with exterior lead-based paint, many of the paint chips are left to lay on the ground. The work may also generate lead dust. While inside the home, the dust and chips usually get cleaned up, it is less likely to happen outside.

Children are tempted to pick-up these paint chips and eat them - the paint tastes sweet. The child is likely to be lead-poisoned as a result.

During the Fall of 1999, IDEM directed a homeowner, realtor and contractor to clean-up lead-based paint debris the fell on a neighbors yard after the paint was water blasted from the garage. The debris was considered illegal dumping. Since the clean-up occurred after the remodeling, renovation and maintenance work was complete, IDEM’s lead-based paint rule required that a licensed lead abatement contractor do the work. 3" of soil in the neighbor’s yard had to be removed. The clean-up cost more than $15,000.

If the contractor understood that its was illegal to leave lead-based paint debris after the work was complete, the contractor could have easily taken steps to capture the paint chips and properly dispose of them. Despite repeated requests to make its expectations clear, IDEM has not notified homeowners, contractors, or realtors that a clean-up is required by the illegal dumping rules.

4.    Mandatory Blood Lead Test Reporting

Currently, labs are required only to report positive tests for lead poisoning - when the levels are over 10 ug/dL of lead in the blood. As a result, it is difficult to determine how prevalent lead poisoning is - and prevalence is critical to preventing lead poisoning. If the numbers are going down, is it because fewer children are being tested or because the efforts to prevent poisoning is succeeding?

Federal legislation will require states to mandate this reporting starting July 1, 2003. While the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) has the authority to adopt rules requiring this reporting and is committed to revising its rules, the timeframe is uncertain. By making the changes in statute, it will better position ISDH to get federal funding and will help laboratories make necessary changes.

HB-1171 requires clinical labs to report to ISDH the results of all blood lead tests performed on children younger that 7. Demographic information must also be reported. The requirements go into effect on July 1, 2003.

5.     Sharing of Testing Data

Indiana has statutory limits on the sharing of blood lead testing data. There are differing views on the statutes. Some health departments share the data with housing agencies. However, ISDH found itself unable to share the data with other agencies including Indiana’s Medicaid program or housing agencies that need the information to more effectively implement the HUD lead poisoning prevention rule.

HB-1171 requires that:

• ISDH, local health departments and Family and Social Services Administration share blood lead testing and demographic information collected after 1990 among themselves and with the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
• Sharing of data collected after July 1, 2002 with housing agencies to more effectively implement the HUD lead-poisoning prevention rules.