Bill Text: NY S04376 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to water contamination, lead paint and air quality testing in New York city housing authority buildings.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT [S04376 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S04376-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4376

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 7, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and
          Community Development

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the public housing law, in relation to water contam-
          ination, lead paint and air quality testing in New York  city  housing
          authority buildings

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The public  housing  law  is  amended  by  adding  two  new
     2  sections 402-g and 402-h to read as follows:
     3    §  402-g.  Water contamination, lead paint and air quality testing. 1.
     4  The New York city housing authority shall provide for annual water test-
     5  ing to monitor for lead or copper contamination in  the  water  of  each
     6  building  under  the  jurisdiction of the authority. The authority shall
     7  transmit a copy of such results  to  the  commissioner  of  health.  For
     8  purposes  of this section, tap water shall be considered contaminated if
     9  such water exceeds the lead or copper action level based  on  first-draw
    10  tap  samples  as  provided in rules and regulations of the department of
    11  health authorized under section two hundred one  of  the  public  health
    12  law.
    13    2.  The  authority,  in  conjunction  with the commissioner of health,
    14  shall conduct lead paint testing to monitor for  the  presence  of  lead
    15  paint  in  each  building  under  the jurisdiction of the authority. The
    16  authority shall provide notice to all tenants where such  testing  indi-
    17  cates the presence of lead paint in a building under the jurisdiction of
    18  the authority.
    19    3. The authority, in conjunction with the commissioner of health shall
    20  be  required to conduct annual indoor air quality testing to monitor for
    21  air quality in each building under the jurisdiction  of  the  authority.
    22  The  authority shall transmit a copy of such results to the commissioner
    23  of health. The authority shall provide notice to all tenants where  such

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09027-01-3
        S. 4376                             2

     1  air  quality  test results exceed department of health indoor air guide-
     2  lines or the occupational safety and health administration.
     3    4.  The  authority  shall  be civilly liable for actual damages of any
     4  tenant, if it is determined that such tenant has suffered adverse health
     5  conditions caused by the indoor air  quality,  lead  paint  presence  or
     6  water contamination of a building under the jurisdiction of the authori-
     7  ty.
     8    §  402-h.  Falsifying  authority records notification. 1. The New York
     9  city housing authority shall provide information to all  employees  that
    10  any  employee of the authority who falsifies records, including, but not
    11  limited to: (a) providing inaccurate water contamination  results,  lead
    12  paint  test  results  or  indoor air quality reports; (b) falsifying any
    13  signature; or (c) making a false entry in or falsely altering any record
    14  or other written instrument filed with the authority shall be guilty  of
    15  tampering  with  public records in the second degree pursuant to section
    16  175.20 of the penal law.
    17    2. The authority shall  refer  any  case  of  an  employee  falsifying
    18  records to local law enforcement.
    19    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.