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1999 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 394
Requesting the Department of Housing and Community Development to convene an interagency task force of relevant state agencies to study issues related to lead hazard reduction.

Agreed to by the Senate, February 8, 1999
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 23, 1999

WHEREAS, for several years, the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Abatement of Lead-Based Paint has promoted cooperation in the implementation of lead poisoning prevention efforts to preserve and conserve scarce resources; and

WHEREAS, lead poisoning among children is a preventable tragedy which causes seizures, mental retardation, even coma and death; and

WHEREAS, the joint subcommittee supported the development of a public-private partnership in 1995 that has resulted in good communication and exemplary relationships between relevant state agencies to identify children at risk of lead poisoning, contain or abate lead in housing with young children, and implement federal requirements for contractors, workers, and other construction personnel; and

WHEREAS, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 and regulations promulgated thereunder require full disclosure of lead-based paint hazards in residential real estate transactions; and

WHEREAS, there are no requirements for lead risk reduction or standards for the inspection of dwellings; and

WHEREAS, the relevant state agencies--the Departments of Health, Housing and Community Development, Labor and Industry, and the Professional and Occupational Regulation, and the Virginia Housing Study Commission and the Virginia Center for Housing Research at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have specific duties and responsibilities, and the expertise to assist in the implementation of lead risk reduction policies and activities; and

WHEREAS, the joint subcommittee requests the assistance of relevant state agencies to provide clear and consistent standards or procedures for lead risk reduction, and to coordinate such standards or procedures with the implementation of federal lead disclosure requirements and to facilitate the Joint Subcommittee’s recommendations to eradicate lead poisoning, especially among Virginia’s children; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Department of Housing and Community Development be requested to convene an interagency task force of relevant state agencies to study issues related to lead hazard reduction. The Department of Housing and Community Development shall invite the Departments of Health, Labor and Industry, and Occupational Regulations, the Virginia Housing Study Commission, and the Virginia Center for Housing Research at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, to serve on the task force. Members of the interagency task force are requested to:

1. Examine mechanisms to reduce lead poisoning in the Commonwealth, particularly among children;

2. Focus on issues relating to remodeling of buildings constructed prior to 1978, particularly buildings which house young children;

3. Examine the feasibility, benefits, and drawbacks of requiring inspections of buildings constructed prior to 1978 upon remodeling or prior to being occupied by a new renter or owner;

4. Evaluate other states’ laws for lead abatement or risk reduction and the appropriateness of the principles of such other states’ laws for Virginia;

5. Examine the feasibility, benefits and drawbacks of developing standards for lead poisoning risk reduction for real estate professionals and commercial property owners in Virginia;

6. Develop standards for lead poisoning risk reduction for real estate professionals and commercial property owners, if appropriate;

7. Recommend standards or procedures for lead risk reduction and mechanisms to coordinate the implementation of federal disclosure requirements with such standards or procedures;

8. Recommend any other steps which may be taken to prevent lead poisoning and liability for lead risks; and

9. Recommend any necessary legislative actions to implement appropriate lead risk reduction measures.

The Department of Housing and Community Development shall submit a preliminary report to the Joint Subcommittee Studying Lead Poisoning Prevention by September 1, 1999, and a final report of the findings and recommendations of the interagency task force by October 15, 1999. The joint subcommittee shall include the report of the interagency task force in its report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 2000 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.