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Lead On?
House rental-prop rally for lead law
At a State House rally State Rep. Joseph A. Trillo claimed that less than 50 children statewide were affected by lead poisoning. According to ProJo’s article by Katherine Gregg, Trillo claimed that misinformation about the actual number of children affected by lead poisoning led to the adoption of the new Lead Hazard Mitigation Law.
Trillo proposes introducing legislation that will limit state intervention to buildings where a child has actually tested positive for lead, instead of mandatory testing for the state’s 145,000 rental units.
Information and statements like Mr. Trillo's lead me to ask, was it panic, hysteria, and hyperbole, along with resume building that led to the passage of the new Lead Hazard Mitigation Law?
Who has the accurate numbers that reflect the extent of the problem in Rhode Island? Is there really an epidemic of lead poisoning in Rhode Island?
Accurate statistics for the actual number of lead poisonings medically treated statewide should be available on a year by year basis to clarify the extent of the problem.
We need accurate numbers not numbers with "spin" on them.
You can read Ms. Gregg’s article in ProJo or below.
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John
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Landlords protest lead-inspection law
The new requirements will be unnecessarily costly for rental-property owners, say those in attendance at the State House rally.
01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BY KATHERINE GREGG
Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE -- Close to four dozen rental-property owners -- and their lobbyist -- rallied at the State House yesterday for changes in the state's new mandatory lead-inspection law to relieve scores of "innocent landlords" of what they characterized as an unjustified and unnecessary expense.
"There is no logical reason," said the leader of the rally, state Rep. Joseph A. Trillo. "No other state does this."
Trillo was the Warwick Republican -- and investment property owner -- who filed the court challenge that led Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. to declare portions of the state's new Lead Hazard Mitigation Law unconstitutional last week.
More specifially, the judge aimed his ruling at the exemption the law provided two- and three-unit owner-occupied buildings from key requirements, among them: a requirement that landlords take a three-hour lead awareness class and prove their properties meet state health department standards by having them certified as lead-safe at least once every two years, or each time a new tenant moves in.
The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 4, less than a month before the new law was scheduled to take effect.
Trillo yesterday repeated his accusations that the law was adopted based on "misinformation" suggesting there were many more lead-poisoned children in the state than there are.
He said there is "no logical reason to go after" the owners of 145,000 rental units, and exacerbate a "housing crisis," to cure a problem affecting less than 50 children, according to his own research.
Trillo said he will soon introduce legislation that limits intervention and enforcement to pre-1978 properties "where a child has tested positive for lead poisoning . . . in two consecutive tests, at least 30 days apart."
"The requirement of mandatory frequent inspections, potential costly renovations and obtaining a certificate of compliance . . . would not apply to properties where no child had been poisoned."
Trillo yesterday said that he owns eight pieces of property, all commercial except for one 10-unit, single-room-only apartment house in Warwick that was cleansed of any potential hazards when it was gutted and refurbished in 1980.
Also present yesterday was the lobbyist for the landlords' group, Thomas Hanley, a onetime top aide in the House Democratic ranks.
kgregg@projo.com / (401) 277-7078
Online at: http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060118_thelaw18.12e2c238.html
Posted at January 18, 2006 12:32 PM