STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7687
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, the insurance law, the social
services law, the public housing law and the executive law, in
relation to elevated lead levels in children
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Dakota's Law".
2 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 1370-f
3 to read as follows:
4 § 1370-f. Lead safe residential rental properties. 1. For the
5 purposes of this section:
6 (a) "residential rental property" shall mean a dwelling which is
7 either rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied
8 as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more persons other
9 than the owner's family. Residential rental property shall not include
10 short term rental properties during which guests do not stay in excess
11 of twenty-eight days; and
12 (b) "lead safe" shall mean any residential rental property that: (i)
13 has been determined through a lead-based paint inspection conducted in
14 accordance with appropriate federal regulations not to contain lead-
15 based paint; or (ii) meets the minimum standards set forth in regu-
16 lations promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to this section.
17 2. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations establish-
18 ing minimum standards for the maintenance of lead safe residential
19 rental properties. Such rules and regulations shall include:
20 (a) Minimum standards for maintaining internal and external painted
21 surfaces that contain lead-based paint; and
22 (b) A schedule by which owners of residential rental property must
23 implement and comply with such minimum standards.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05593-16-9
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1 3. It shall be the responsibility of an owner of any residential
2 rental property to maintain such property in a lead safe condition in
3 accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner
4 pursuant to this section.
5 4. All paint on any residential rental property on which the original
6 construction was completed prior to January first, nineteen hundred
7 seventy-eight, shall be presumed to be lead-based paint. This presump-
8 tion may be overcome by a certification issued by a federally certified
9 lead-based paint inspector or risk assessor that the property has been
10 determined not to contain lead-based paint, or by such other means as
11 may be prescribed by the rules and regulations adopted by the commis-
12 sioner pursuant to this section.
13 5. The commissioner, local health officer of a county and, in the city
14 of New York, the commissioner of the New York City department of health
15 and mental hygiene, may enter into an agreement or contract with a
16 municipal government regarding inspection of the lead conditions in
17 residential rental properties and such health department may designate
18 the local housing maintenance code enforcement agency in which the resi-
19 dential rental property is located as an agency authorized to administer
20 and ensure compliance with the provisions of this section and subsequent
21 regulations pursuant to subdivision one of section thirteen hundred
22 seventy-five of this title.
23 6. If the commissioner, or other officer having jurisdiction, deter-
24 mines that an owner of residential rental property is in violation of
25 this section or any rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to this
26 section, the commissioner or other officer having jurisdiction shall
27 have the authority to order the abatement of any lead condition present
28 at the residential rental property and assess fines not to exceed two
29 thousand dollars for each violation.
30 § 3. Paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 1370-a of the
31 public health law, paragraph (c) as amended by section 4 of part A of
32 chapter 58 of the laws of 2009, and paragraph (d) as added by chapter
33 485 of the laws of 1992, are amended and three new paragraphs (e), (f)
34 and (g) are added to read as follows:
35 (c) establish a statewide registry of lead levels of children provided
36 such information is maintained as confidential except for (i) disclosure
37 for medical treatment purposes; (ii) disclosure of non-identifying
38 epidemiological data; and (iii) disclosure of information from such
39 registry to the statewide immunization information system established by
40 section twenty-one hundred sixty-eight of this chapter; [and]
41 (d) develop and implement public education and community outreach
42 programs on lead exposure, detection and risk reduction[.];
43 (e) primary health care providers shall provide the parent or guardian
44 of each child under six years of age anticipatory guidance on lead
45 poisoning prevention as part of routine care, including but not limited
46 to their right to an inspection if the child is at risk of lead expo-
47 sure;
48 (f) primary health care providers shall screen or refer each child for
49 blood lead screening beginning at least six months and continuing until
50 the age of six at each routine well-child visit, or at least annually if
51 a child has not had routine well-child visits; and
52 (g) add a question to the lead exposure risk assessment questionnaire
53 for children which shall include a question asking if the child has
54 obtained a blood test for lead annually between the ages of twelve
55 months old and six years old.
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1 § 4. Section 1373 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 6 to read as follows:
3 6. (a) The commissioner or their representative shall require the
4 jurisdictional local or state health department to investigate cases of
5 elevated lead levels, as defined in subdivision six of section thirteen
6 hundred seventy of this title, that are reported by physicians to a
7 local or state health officer pursuant to section thirteen hundred
8 seventy-e of this title.
9 (b) A jurisdictional local health department may request assistance
10 from the state department of health to investigate cases of elevated
11 lead levels if such jurisdictional local health department does not have
12 the capacity and/or resources to investigate such cases as required
13 pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
14 (c) For the purposes of this subdivision, "jurisdictional local or
15 state health department" shall mean the local or state health department
16 of the local or state health officer whom a physician has reported
17 elevated lead levels to pursuant to section thirteen hundred seventy-e
18 of this title.
19 § 5. Subsection (i) of section 3216 of the insurance law is amended by
20 adding a new paragraph 36 to read as follows:
21 (36) Screening for the detection of elevated lead levels covered under
22 the policy shall not be subject to annual deductibles or coinsurance.
23 For the purposes of this paragraph, "elevated lead levels" shall have
24 the same meaning as set forth in subdivision six of section thirteen
25 hundred seventy of the public health law.
26 § 6. Subsection (k) of section 3221 of the insurance law is amended by
27 adding a new paragraph 22 to read as follows:
28 (22) Screening for the detection of elevated lead levels covered under
29 the policy shall not be subject to annual deductibles or coinsurance.
30 For the purposes of this paragraph, "elevated lead levels" shall have
31 the same meaning as set forth in subdivision six of section thirteen
32 hundred seventy of the public health law.
33 § 7. Section 4303 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new
34 subsection (ss) to read as follows:
35 (ss) Screening for the detection of elevated lead levels covered under
36 the policy shall not be subject to annual deductibles or coinsurance.
37 For the purposes of this subsection, "elevated lead levels" shall have
38 the same meaning as set forth in subdivision six of section thirteen
39 hundred seventy of the public health law.
40 § 8. Subdivision 2 of section 365-a of the social services law is
41 amended by adding a new paragraph (gg) to read as follows:
42 (gg) screening and blood tests of children for elevated lead levels.
43 For the purposes of this paragraph, elevated lead levels shall have the
44 same definition as set forth in subdivision six of section thirteen
45 hundred seventy of the public health law.
46 § 9. Subdivision 4 of section 14 of the public housing law is amended
47 by adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
48 (e) the commissioner shall promulgate rules, regulations and policies
49 which:
50 (i) set the action level for lead to the level defined as elevated
51 lead levels in subdivision six of section thirteen hundred seventy of
52 the public health law when identifying elevated blood lead levels of
53 children occupying a dwelling in public housing; and
54 (ii) require projects to follow the federal department of housing and
55 urban development's guidance on lead safe housing rule pertaining to
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1 elevated blood levels for the public housing, housing choice voucher,
2 and project-based voucher programs.
3 § 10. Subdivision 1 of section 383 of the executive law is amended by
4 adding a new paragraph d to read as follows:
5 d. The regulations promulgated by the commissioner of health pursuant
6 to subdivision two of section thirteen hundred seventy-f of the public
7 health law (i) shall not be superseded by the provisions of this arti-
8 cle, by the provisions of the uniform fire prevention and building code,
9 or by the provisions of the building and fire prevention codes in effect
10 in a city with a population of over one million; (ii) shall be applica-
11 ble in addition to, and not in substitution for or limitation of, the
12 provisions of the uniform fire prevention and building code and the
13 provisions of building and fire prevention codes in effect in cities
14 with a population of over one million; and (iii) shall be administered
15 and enforced by the commissioner of health, the local health officer of
16 a county, the commissioner of the New York city department of health and
17 mental hygiene, or a municipal government entering into an agreement or
18 contract authorized by subdivision five of section thirteen hundred
19 seventy-f of the public health law, in the manner provided in said
20 subdivision.
21 § 11. This act shall take effect immediately.