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Minutes for HB2142 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Creating the get the lead out of school drinking water act to require schools to comply with legal limits on lead content in school drinking water.
Minutes Content for Tue, Feb 14, 2023
The Chairman opened the hearing on HB2142.
Jason Long, Revisor, gave an overview summary of the bill. (Attachment 5)
Proponents (Oral)
Paul Snider, speaking on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained the idea of the bill and noted that he will be offering an amendment that will clarify parts of the bill. (Attachment 6)
Rachel Rimmerman, Water Institute, Saint Louis University, appeared via WEBEX to speak in support of the bill. Ms. Rimmerman explained her background; she is a Ph.D. student and her dissertation is on lead in school water. She explained that lead enters water systems primarily through plumbing materials in the school itself. Students spend much of their time in school buildings and the pipes, solders, and fixtures can contribute to lead levels. (Attachment 7)
Tanya Dorf Brunner, Oral Health Kansas, explained her organization supports students drinking lots of water because it is good for their health. They support this bill because it would offer filtered bottle filling stations that filter out impurities like lead at the point of dispensing. (Attachment 8)
Cyndi Roper, Natural Resources Defense Council, described the importance of "Filter First" because all plumbing fixtures have some lead in them. A filter approach saves money by avoiding the unnecessary testing and supplying students with clean healthy water. (Attachment 9)
Madeline Semansin, Great Rivers Law (WEBEX), explained the problem with Kansas schools who are not required to act if lead concentrations are detected in drinking water. She supports the path of installing hydration stations (with filtered water) and to prioritize disadvantaged school systems. More than 60% of Kansas children have detectable levels of lead in their blood. (Attachment 10)
Melissa Stiehler, Resident of Topeka, stated Kansas has the 3rd highest per capita rate of lead pipes per 100,000 residents in the country. Lead can damage the brain and nervous system, especially significant in children. She supports the solution offered by HB2142. (Attachment 11)
Jessa Gordon, Washburn Student, is studying education and she is concerned about the presence of lead in the blood of Kansas kids. She urges the Committee to demonstrate proactive willingness to face this lead issue head on. (Attachment 12)
Neutral (Oral)
Jerry Henn, United School Administrators - Kansas, supports this bill and the method of filter first. They are neutral because they believe the water schools offer now meets the guidelines for lead free. They are concerned that this bill creates an unfunded mandate. (Attachment 13)
Leah Fliter, Kansas Association of School Boards, noted they are in support of this but concerned that it is not funded. (Attachment 14)
Cathy Tucker-Vogel, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, spoke about the lead and copper bill. She explained it is the most complex law in all of the drinking water regulations. Lead comes from lead pipes, plumbing fixtures and solder. When water is corrosive the lead is released. So the issue is controlling the corrosiveness of the water. She also noted there are many other sources of lead, as in paint, dust, and clothing. She told of a cluster of children in Saline county who had high levels of lead, and the water in their homes was fine, but their parents worked at the same factory that had lead dust and the children were affected by this. (Attachment 15)
Proponent (Written Only)
Shelby Ostrom, Kansas Public Health (Attachment 16)
Kari Rinker, American Heart Association (Attachment 17)
Jonathan Smith, Parent, Teacher (Attachment 18)
Neutral (Written Only)
Patty Jurich, Kansas Parent Teacher Association (Attachment 19)
There was a brief conversation.
The Chairman closed the hearing on HB2142 and adjourned the meeting.
