NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7700
SPONSOR: O'Donnell TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the public health
law, in relation to establishing environmental standards for lead in
ambient air and lead contamination in soils and lead dust on floors and
window sills
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To protect the public health by ensuring the enactment of stricter envi-
ronmental standards for ambient lead from all sources (including water,
air, soil) and for the prevention of lead contamination of soils and on
floors and windowsills.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill establishes legislative findings
Section 2 of the bill requires the Department of Environmental Conserva-
tion (DEC) and the Department of Health (DOH) to propose new standards,
and update any existing standards as appropriate, for dust lead hazards,
soil-lead hazards and ambient air quality standards for the level of
lead in various media that must be met to ensure the safety of our chil-
dren.
Section 3 requires cooperation between DOH and DEC with respect to the
adoption of new standards.
Section 4 of the bill states that the effective date is 90 days post-e-
nactment.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill will help make New York a singular leader in protecting the
public and children from the harmful effects of exposure to lead in all
forms and sources. It would require the establishment of new and strict-
er environmental standards for ambient lead dust and lead contamination
in soil and on floors and windowsills. This legislation is necessary as
various actions at the Federal and State level have yet to achieve stan-
dards that are fully protective of human health. Federal Rulemaking
took over a decade to decide upon standards that human health experts
agree are not sufficient.
After this rulemaking, in May 2021 The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals (in A Community Voice et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency) ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to go back and
reconsider its lead hazard standards for homes for the fourth time, as
the standard were found to be insufficient as data indicates that poor
children, often black are repeatedly harmed by exposure to lead.
The Biden Administration through the CDC and others are now contemplat-
ing stronger standards, but the time for New York to act is now.
The bill was vetoed in 2022, and the following offers a some perspective
on why the bill is still needed what this bill attempts to do is to
acknowledge that there is a comprehensive lead harm from all sources,
air, soil, water, that often interact and have cumulative impacts
Different federal or state standards with respect to discrete sources do
not capture the whole picture as I understand that water, air, soil,
etc. interact and compound each other as in the following example: a
building demolition sends lead from the ground, soil, building into air
and potentially into water sources. This bill seeks a total safe stand-
ard from all sources that is what makes it unique and what makes the
veto message irrelevant
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022-Similar Bill Passed Both Houses & Vetoed.
2023 B-Print spells out more specific standards for the DEC to follow
and consider.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Ninety days after passage.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7700
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 6, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the public health
law, in relation to establishing environmental standards for lead in
ambient air and lead contamination in soils and lead dust on floors
and window sills
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares
2 that there is a present need to establish New York standards with
3 respect to lead levels in ambient air and levels of lead contamination
4 in soils and lead dust on floors and window sills. The legislature finds
5 that the current regulatory standards are inadequate to protect the
6 general public and particularly children from the harmful effects of
7 ingesting or inhaling lead dust and coming into contact with lead on
8 exposed surfaces. The legislature declares that it shall be the respon-
9 sibility of the commissioner of environmental conservation, in consulta-
10 tion with the commissioner of health, to adopt standards for lead in
11 ambient air and lead contamination of soil and lead dust on windows and
12 floors, in a manner that would be fully protective of children's health,
13 and in accordance with the procedures set forth in the environmental
14 conservation law.
15 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 3-0301 of the environmental conserva-
16 tion law is amended by adding a new paragraph nn to read as follows:
17 nn. In consultation with the commissioner of health pursuant to subdi-
18 vision thirty-two of section two hundred six of the public health law,
19 and in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision two of this section,
20 the commissioner shall adopt environmental standards and those rules
21 having the force and effect of standards and criteria to carry out the
22 purposes of such standards, which shall require:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04790-04-3
A. 7700 2
1 (1) that areas containing lead contaminated soil shall have levels of
2 lead contamination not greater than what is necessary to be fully
3 protective of human health which shall in no event be greater than one
4 hundred parts per million for bare soil on residential property or on
5 the property of a child occupied facility in a children's play area and
6 in no event be greater than two hundred parts per million for bare soil
7 in the rest of the yard based on soil samples, and in no event greater
8 than one thousand parts per million for areas zoned for commercial
9 and/or industrial development, based on soil samples.
10 (2) that a lead dust hazard as defined in part 40 of the Code of
11 Federal Regulations section 745.101 which is fully protective of human
12 health and shall in no event be greater than five micrograms per square
13 foot on floors and in no event greater than forty micrograms per square
14 foot for window sills; and that clearance standards, as defined in part
15 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations section 745.223, shall be set at
16 the same levels.
17 (3) that the average ambient air quality standard for lead, calculated
18 as a rolling three month average, shall not be greater than what is
19 necessary to be fully protective of human health and which shall in no
20 event be greater than .075 micrograms per cubic meter.
21 § 3. Section 206 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
22 subdivision 32 to read as follows:
23 32. The commissioner, upon request of the commissioner of environ-
24 mental conservation, shall consult with such commissioner on the
25 creation and adoption of environmental standards for lead concentrations
26 in lead contaminated soils, lead concentrations on floors and window
27 sills, and lead concentrations in ambient air.
28 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
29 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
30 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
31 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
32 on or before such date.
