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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 20, 2016 10:50 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Wayne D. Fontana |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Real Estate Disclosure Forms - Lead in Water and Paint |
| After the water crisis that took place at the end of 2015 in Flint, Michigan, I decided to author legislation which is aimed at protecting potential homebuyers that a house or residence that they are considering purchasing could contain lead in the tap water or paint and this would need to be disclosed. The primary source of childhood lead poisoning in Pennsylvania continues to be exposure to lead-based paint, in the form of chips and dust, found in homes with paint from before its 1978 ban according to the state Department of health. Congress passed the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, also known as Title X, to protect families from exposure to lead from paint, dust, and soil by requiring the disclosure of known information before the sale or lease of most housing built before 1978. However, this is not a part of the required contents under Pennsylvania law regarding property disclosure statements. My legislation would simply add this into state statute. At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 10 to 20 percent of human exposure to lead comes from drinking water. Lead is rarely found in the source of public water, rather, it enters tap water through the corrosion of a home’s plumbing materials. Since a homeowner is responsible for the quality of plumbing in their home that carries the water delivered by the local water treatment facility, this legislation will provide added protection that if one knows their water contains lead, they would need to disclosure this in the seller’s disclosure. Previous cosponsors to this bill included Senators Farnese, Sabatina, Tartaglione, Brewster, Schwank and Browne. I hope you will considering joining me again by signing onto this important consumer protection legislation. |
Introduced as SB296