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Lead Legislation Provides Clarity and Enables Progress

Why is SB-320 Needed?

What Does SB-320 Require?

Sen. Gard of Greenfield demonstrated her commitment to children’s environmental health by wading into the crazy-quilt of lead poisoning regulations. She offered to introduce draft legislation that IKE’s Tom Neltner wrote.

Her bill, SB-320, was heard by her Senate Environmental Affairs committee on Jan. 28, 2001. It was supported by the Marion County Health Department, Sierra Club, the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development, and, of course, IKE. The Apartment Association of Indiana and the Indiana Builders Association supported several key provisions of the bill and did not oppose any provision.

Revealing how intricate the puzzle of regulations actually is, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management saw several potential implementation problems and raised questions. After three weeks of negotiations to clarify the intent of the proposal, an amendment was offered that IDEM supported. The bill, as amended, passed the committee and was adopted by the Senate.

The only unresolved issue was whether to exempt neighborhood economic development groups from the professional licensing fees. Since IDEM’s licensing program already was losing money each year, the committee opted not to provide an exemption.