New York State leads the nation in cases of children with elevated blood levels. Twelve percent of the children born in the state in 2019 – 28,820 children – have been diagnosed with elevated blood lead levels. Childhood lead poisoning rates for communities across New York State are five to six times higher than those in Flint, MI at the peak of its water crisis. And studies show that Black children living below the poverty line are twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning as poor white children.
The reason for such high rates of lead poisoning in New York is that we have so many homes built before the state banned lead paint in 1978. And childhood lead poisoning, which is completely preventable, produces life-long impacts, which include permanent neurological disorders, kidney and hearing damage, and concentration problems as well as lower IQs.
New York State’s Lead Paint Right to Know Act (S.2353/A.4820) would require owners of residential real estate property built before 1978, when New York State banned the use of lead-based paint, to test for the presence of lead-based paint before they sell the residence and to disclose the results to buyers prior to closure of the sale. It would also require them to share those test results with the New York State Department of Health so the information will be included in a statewide lead-in-housing registry that the agency is developing. The bill would not require remediation if lead is found, but it would give buyers information they can use to take steps to protect their family – whether that be undertaking the remediation themselves or simply choosing another home to buy.
While the main focus of this bill is real estate sales, it would also require landlords to share any lead testing reports within their possession or control with tenants before they enter into a lease. Any testing that has been done voluntarily or to comply with a municipal ordinance will satisfy the requirements of the bill so long as the testing complies with the requirements in the bill. It is designed to complement the requirements in several New York cities to test rental properties for lead, and with New York State Public Health Law 1377, which will require lead testing (and remediation) in multi-dwelling rental properties in communities of concern. Currently, nothing in federal or state law requires lead testing in owner-occupied housing.
Without the Lead Paint Right to Know Act, tens of thousands of children across our state will continue to suffer the lifelong consequences of childhood lead poisoning, and – rather than learning if their new home contains lead paint before they move in – parents won’t be able to find that out until after their child gets sick, which is too late.