Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 107, as amended by House Committee of the Whole, addresses continuation of the law that concerns the completion of a child health assessment prior to first entering a Kansas school and enacts the Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act.

Child Health Assessments

S.B. 107 deletes the sunset provision in a statute that requires every pupil up to nine years of age who has not previously been enrolled in a Kansas school to present the results of a child health assessment completed within the previous 12 months or comply with an alternative as set out in the law.

Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act

Sections 2 through 16 of S.B. 107 create new statutes that are to be known as the Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, which is to be administered by the Secretary of Health and Environment. The Secretary is authorized to develop and implement a childhood lead poisoning prevention program as necessary to protect the health of the children of Kansas, including provisions to:

• investigate the extent of childhood lead poisoning;



• develop a data management system designed to collect and analyze information on childhood lead poisoning;



• develop and conduct programs to educate health care providers;



• issue recommendations for the methods and intervals for blood lead screening and testing of children, except no child is to be screened or tested if the child's parent or guardian objects in writing on the grounds that such screening or testing is contrary to the parent's or guardian's religious belief;



• develop and issue health advisories urging health care providers to conduct blood lead screening of children;



• encourage health care providers to ensure that parents and guardians are advised of the availability and advisability of screening and testing for lead poisoning;



• develop a program to assist local health departments in identification and follow-up of cases of elevated blood lead levels in children and other high-risk individuals; and



• in consultation with appropriate federal, state, and local agencies, develop a comprehensive public education program that includes elements set out in the bill.

The Secretary is also to adopt rules and regulations that include:

• licensing of business entities and public agencies to engage in lead-based paint activities;



• certification of individuals to engage in lead-based paint activities;



• accreditation of training programs;



• on-site inspections of lead-based paint activities;



• notification and recordkeeping procedures and work-practice standards; and



• reasonable fee schedules for the issuance and renewal of certificates and licenses, training program accreditation, and on-site inspections.

Fees imposed may not exceed those charged by the Environmental Protection Agency for the same or similar regulatory programs.

The Secretary is to conduct on-site inspections of procedures being used by licensees during a lead abatement project, adopt rules and regulations regarding the distribution of lead hazard information to owners and occupants of housing prior to renovation activities, and adopt rules and regulations to control the distribution and reuse of architectural debris that contains lead-based paint.

S.B. 107 prohibits an unlicensed business entity or public agency from engaging in lead-based paint activity. Businesses or public agencies that own or lease a nonresidential dwelling may perform lead-based paint activities within the facility without a license, but must perform work in accordance with federal and state guidelines or statutes, or both. Individuals, except those who are engaged in lead-based paint activities within a residential dwelling owned by and the residence of the individual, are prohibited from engaging in lead-based paint activities without having a certificate issued by the Secretary.

The bill sets out the requirements to be met to qualify for licensure or certification; creates a lead-based paint hazard fee fund in the state treasury; authorizes the Secretary to refuse to issue a license or to revoke or suspend a license issued under the Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act on the basis of grounds set out in the bill; authorizes the Secretary to refuse to issue a certificate or suspend or revoke a certificate for any of the grounds set out in the bill; provides for appeal of the decisions of the Secretary; authorizes the temporary emergency suspension of a license or certification if the public health or safety is endangered; makes it a duty of any agent of the Secretary and the Secretary to notify any business entity, accredited training program, or public agency in writing of violations of the law or rules and regulations and of the actions necessary to correct the violation.

Pursuant to the provisions of S.B. 107, any individual, business entity, accredited training program, or public agency that knowingly violates any provisions of the Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act or rules and regulations adopted thereunder is guilty, for a first offense, of a class C misdemeanor, and for a second or subsequent offense, of a class B misdemeanor. In addition to any other penalty or litigation provided by law, an individual, business entity, accredited training program, or public agency may incur a civil penalty for violations of the law or rules and regulations in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for each subsequent violation, and, in the case of a continuing violation, every day a violation continues is to be deemed a separate violation. Any civil penalty is to be in an amount that constitutes an actual and substantial economic deterrent to the violation. Any civil penalty recovered and deposited in the lead-based paint hazard fee fund is to be used to establish a grant program for communities to conduct activities designed to reduce or eliminate exposure of children to residential lead-based paint hazards. In addition to any other remedy under the law, the Secretary may bring an action for injunction or other process to restrain or prevent a business entity or individual from violating the law or rules and regulations.

Licensure, certification, or training program accreditation is not to be required until the Secretary adopts rules and regulations to implement the law; the audit privilege recognized in K.S.A. 60-332 through 60-339 does not apply to the act; and the provisions of the Residential Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act are repealed on July 1, 2004.

Background

S.B. 107 was drafted by and introduced at the request of the Health Care Reform Legislative Oversight Committee which considered continuation of the child health assessment law during the interim. The Oversight Committee heard the results of a survey conducted by two students in the Masters in Public Health program at Wichita State University regarding the child health assessment program in the five years it has been in effect. Responses to the survey were positive from school nurses and from school superintendents who responded to the survey. The Oversight Committee noted there is no enforcement provision in the law, nor are schools required to report whether they have implemented the law to the state. For this reason, hard data on the level of compliance were not available to the Health Care Reform Legislative Oversight Committee. The Senate Committee on Education heard conferees from the Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas State Nurses Association who spoke in favor of the bill. It was noted the child health assessment is especially beneficial for children who have little access to primary care providers because any health condition or disability can be identified at an early age so that treatment can begin and the development of chronic health problems delayed, reduced, or eliminated. It was noted the child health assessment at school entry can be coordinated with the new child health insurance program known as Health Wave.

The House Committee of the Whole amended S.B. 107 to include provisions similar to those of H.B. 2314 which would create the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. H.B. 2314 remains in the House Committee on Health and Human Services.

In amending the bill in the Committee of the Whole, an error was made and one section of an amendment offered but not adopted was inadvertently included in those that added the Child Lead Poisoning Prevention Act to the bill. Section 17, as it appears in S.B. 107, as amended, was a part of a proposed amendment to divide the Department of Health and Environment into a Department of Health and a Department of Environment that was not adopted by the House.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html