Bipartisan legislation to make much-needed improvements to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) rule was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The LRRP rule applies to homes built before 1978 and requires renovator training and certification, adherence to lead-safe work practices and record keeping.
The bill would reinstate the opt-out provision to allow home owners without small children or pregnant women residing in the home to decide whether to require LRRP compliance, allow remodelers to correct paperwork errors without facing full penalties and provide an exemption for emergency renovations.
It would also eliminate the requirement that recertification training be “hands on,” so that certified remodelers would no longer have to travel to training facilities out of their region for refresher training. NAHB has been an active supporter of a recent EPA proposal to do the same.
“On the heels of EPA’s final rule extending the recertification deadline for thousands of remodelers, H.R. 2328 will make more common sense improvements for home owners and remodelers who must comply with the lead paint regulation’s costly requirements,” said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Robert Criner
By removing the opt-out provision in July 2010, the EPA more than doubled the number of homes subject to the LRRP rule, adding an estimated $336 million per year in compliance costs to the remodeling community – without making young children any safer.
For more information about remodeling, visit www.nahb.org/remodel.
