I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4416 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award 

grants to eligible entities to evaluate and reduce lead-based paint hazards, 

lead in drinking water hazards, and lead in soil hazards in pre-1978 

residential real properties. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. GOLDEN (for himself, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 

Mr. ENGEL, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the 

Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award grants to eligible entities to evaluate 

and reduce lead-based paint hazards, lead in drinking 

water hazards, and lead in soil hazards in pre-1978 

residential real properties. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lead-Free Future Act 

5 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) Lead poisoning is an entirely preventable 

4 environmental illness. 

5 (2) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre6 vention has declared that there is no safe level of 

7 lead, with even low-level exposure having lifelong 

8 negative impacts on children. 

9 (3) In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control 

10 and Prevention determined that a concentration of 5 

11 micrograms per deciliter (ug/dL) in blood is the ref12 erence level, at which it is recommended that public 

13 health action be initiated. 

14 (4) The American Academy of Pediatrics has 

15 described lead exposure as ‘‘a causal risk factor for 

16 diminished intellectual and academic abilities, higher 

17 rates of neurobehavioral disorders such as hyper18 activity and attention deficits, and lower birth 

19 weight in children.’’. 

20 (5) Studies of children with a history of ele21 vated blood lead levels at or above 5ug/dL show the 

22 impact over the course of their life, including dimin23 ished IQ scores, which lead to lower rates of high 

24 school graduation, lower earning potential, and fewer 

25 Quality-Adjusted Life Years. 


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1 (6) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre2 vention has found that children are at higher risk of 

3 lead or lead exposure if they are low-income, a per4 son of color, or a recent immigrant, live in poorly 

5 maintained rental properties, or have parents who 

6 are exposed to lead at work. 

7 (7) The primary sources of lead exposure are 

8 dust from chipping and peeling paint found in pre9 1978 homes and water as a result of lead service 

10 lines used to transport drinking water, although lead 

11 has also been found in food, soil, jewelry, pottery, 

12 and other consumer products. 

13 (8) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre14 vention has found that about 23,000,000 housing 

15 units, most of them built before 1960, have one or 

16 more lead-based paint hazards, where young children 

17 under age 6 are endangered by chipping or peeling 

18 lead paint or excessive amounts of lead-contaminated 

19 dust. 

20 (9) According to the Centers for Disease Con21 trol and Prevention, there were over 88,000 new 

22 cases of lead poisoning in the United States in 2016. 

23 (10) A 2017 study by Pew Charitable Trust in24 dicates that removing lead-based paint hazards and 

25 lead service lines from older housing with low-income 


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1 children results in a combined return on investment 

2 of $2.77 per dollar invested. 

3 (11) The 2019 Interagency Task Force Lead 

4 Action Plan found that a national strategy is re5 quired to holistically address lead hazards in hous6 ing, drinking water, and soil. 

7 (12) The Federal Government has historically 

8 had a role in assessing and correcting home health 

9 hazards to support the national goal of providing de10 cent, safe, and sanitary housing for every family in 

11 the United States. 

12 (13) Standards for lead cleanup funding 

13 should— 

14 (A) align with Federal health and environ15 mental recommendations; and 

16 (B) move all States to health-protective 

17 lead exposure prevention and mitigation strate18 gies. 

19 SEC. 3. LEAD CLEANUP GRANTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

21 Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 

22 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall award grants to eligible entities for the 

23 purpose of evaluating and reducing lead-based paint haz24 ards, lead in drinking water hazards, and lead in soil haz25 ards in residential real properties constructed before 1978. 


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1 (b) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—To be eligible to receive 

2 a grant under this section, an entity shall be one of the 

3 following: 

4 (1) A State or local government that has an ap5 proved comprehensive housing affordability strategy 

6 under section 105 of the Cranston-Gonzalez Na7 tional Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12705). 

8 (2) A State or local government that has pro9 duced a comprehensive plan or strategy to address 

10 lead poisoning. 

11 (3) A nonprofit organization that meets the fol12 lowing requirements: 

13 (A) The nonprofit organization is a com14 munity-based social and human service organi15 zation that provides housing services. 

16 (B) The nonprofit organization has a dem17 onstrated ability to provide, directly or through 

18 a subgrantee, lead hazard control interventions. 

19 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To seek a grant under this sec20 tion, an eligible entity shall submit an application in such 

21 form and manner as the Secretary shall require. Any such 

22 application shall contain— 

23 (1) a description of the amount of assistance 

24 the eligible entity seeks under this section; 


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1 (2) a description of the planned activities to be 

2 undertaken with the grant, including an estimate of 

3 the amount of funds to be allocated to each activity; 

4 (3) a description of the forms of financial as5 sistance that will be provided to owners and occu6 pants of pre-1978 housing through the grant; 

7 (4) a demonstration that the jurisdiction, as re8 quired by section 5— 

9 (A) has in effect a blood lead reference 

10 level at or below the blood lead reference level 

11 of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven12 tion; and 

13 (B) requires an environmental investiga14 tion to identify environmental sources of lead 

15 exposure in residential properties and childcare 

16 facilities occupied by a child with an elevated 

17 blood lead level; and 

18 (5) such assurances as the Secretary may re19 quire regarding the eligible entity’s capacity to carry 

20 out the activities to be funded through the grant. 

21 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall se22 lect grant recipients under this section on the basis of— 

23 (1) the merit of the activities proposed to be 

24 carried out; and 

25 (2) selection criteria including— 


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1 (A) the extent to which the proposed ac2 tivities will reduce the risk of lead poisoning 

3 for— 

4 (i) low-income children under 6 years 

5 of age; and 

6 (ii) pregnant women; 

7 (B) the proportion of pre-1978 housing in 

8 the area to be served using the grant; 

9 (C) the number and percentage of homes 

10 in the area to be served using the grant where 

11 household income does not exceed 80 percent of 

12 the area median income; 

13 (D) the degree of severity, and the extent 

14 of, lead-based paint hazards, lead in drinking 

15 water hazards, and lead in soil hazards in the 

16 area to be served, evaluated using data con17 cerning the housing age and conditions, lead 

18 service line inventory, and incidence of elevated 

19 blood lead levels according to the reference 

20 blood lead level of the Centers for Disease Con21 trol and Prevention; 

22 (E) the ability of the applicant to leverage 

23 State, local, philanthropic, and private funds to 

24 supplement the grant; and 


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1 (F) such other factors as the Secretary de2 termines appropriate to ensure that grants 

3 made available awarded under this section are 

4 used effectively in accordance with this section. 

5 (e) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—As a condition on receipt 

6 of a grant under this section, a grantee shall agree to use 

7 the grant to evaluate and reduce lead-based paint hazards 

8 in residential real properties constructed before 1978, 

9 which may include— 

10 (1) performing lead inspections and risk assess11 ments in pre-1978 housing; 

12 (2) providing for the remediation, abatement, 

13 and replacement of, or otherwise addressing, lead14 based paint hazards in pre-1978 housing in accord15 ance with applicable State and municipal health and 

16 housing regulations; 

17 (3) providing for the additional cost of reducing 

18 lead-based paint hazards in units undergoing renova19 tion funded by other sources; 

20 (4) providing for the testing of drinking water, 

21 and identifying lead service lines and leaded plumb22 ing fixtures, to identify lead hazards in drinking 

23 water; 

24 (5) providing for the replacement of lead service 

25 lines, in communities where a water utility will or is 


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1 required to replace the utility-owned portion of the 

2 lead service line; 

3 (6) remediation of lead in soil; 

4 (7) monitoring the blood lead levels of workers 

5 involved in the lead-hazard reduction activities fund6 ed under this section; 

7 (8) assisting in the temporary relocation of 

8 families forced to vacate pre-1978 housing while 

9 lead-hazard-reduction measures are being conducted, 

10 if; 

11 (9) educating the public on the nature and 

12 causes of lead poisoning and measures to reduce the 

13 exposure to lead, including exposure due to residen14 tial lead-based paint hazards; 

15 (10) testing soil, paint, interior surface dust, 

16 drinking water, and the blood lead levels of children 

17 under 6 years of age, and pregnant women, residing 

18 in pre-1978 housing after lead-based paint hazard 

19 reduction activity has been conducted, to assure that 

20 such activity does not cause excessive exposures to 

21 lead; 

22 (11) creating or expanding workforce develop23 ment, training, certification, and accreditation pro24 grams; and 


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1 (12) carrying out such activities as the Sec2 retary determines appropriate to promote the pur3 pose described in subsection (a). 

4 (f) FORMS OF ASSISTANCE.—A recipient of a grant 

5 under this section may use the grant to provide eligible 

6 activities described in subsection (e) through a variety of 

7 funding approaches, including subgrants, loans, equity in8 vestments, revolving loan funds, loan funds, loan guaran9 tees, interest write-downs, and other forms of assistance 

10 approved by the Secretary for purposes of this section. 

11 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition on 

12 receipt of a grant under this section, a grantee shall agree 

13 to make contributions toward the cost of activities funded 

14 through the grant for a fiscal year in an amount that is 

15 not less than 4 percent of the total amount of the grant 

16 for such fiscal year. 

17 (h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—As a condition 

18 on receipt of a grant under this section, a grantee shall 

19 agree to use amounts received through the grant to sup20 plement and not supplant funds used by the grantee for 

21 eligible activities described in subsection (e). 

22 (i) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

23 As a condition on receipt of a grant under this section, 

24 a grantee shall ensure that not more than 10 percent of 

25 the grant is used for administrative expenses. 


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1 (j) FINANCIAL RECORDS.—As a condition on receipt 

2 of a grant under this section, a grantee shall agree to 

3 maintain and provide the Secretary with financial records 

4 sufficient, in the determination of the Secretary, to ensure 

5 proper accounting and disbursing of amounts made avail6 able to the grantee through the grant. 

7 (k) AFFORDABILITY MAINTENANCE.—As a condition 

8 on receipt of a grant under this section, a grantee shall 

9 agree to require the owner of any rental property receiving 

10 assistance through the grant, for a period of 3 years after 

11 lead remediation at the rental property pursuant to such 

12 assistance, or throughout the term of any loan made to 

13 the owner pursuant to the grant, whichever is longer— 

14 (1) to maintain the affordability of rental units 

15 at the rental property; and 

16 (2) to continue to rent to families with one or 

17 more children under 6 years of age or a pregnant 

18 woman. 

19 (l) REPORTS.—For any fiscal year in which a grantee 

20 under this section expends funds received through the 

21 grant, such grantee shall submit a report to the Secretary 

22 on the use of the funds. For the respective fiscal year, 

23 any such report shall at a minimum— 

24 (1) specify the number and type of residential 

25 housing units remediated of interior and exterior 


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1 lead-based paint hazards, lead dust, lead service 

2 lines, or leaded plumbing fixtures; and 

3 (2) include community-level elevated blood lead 

4 surveillance data before and after such remediation, 

5 presented at the census block or census tract level. 

6 (m) NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY.—Not later 

7 than 120 days after the date on which funds are first ap8 propriated to carry out this section, the Secretary shall 

9 publish a notice of funding availability regarding grants 

10 under this section. 

11 (n) RELATION TO OTHER PROGRAMS.—The Sec12 retary shall carry out the program under this section in 

13 conjunction with other Federal environmental lead hazard 

14 control and childhood lead-poisoning prevention programs. 

15 (o) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this section, 

17 there is authorized to be appropriated 

18 $12,000,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2020 

19 through 2024. 

20 (2) FUNDING ALLOCATION.—The Secretary 

21 may allow grantees under this section, collectively, to 

22 allocate for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024, 

23 a total of up to $300,000 for capacity building de24 scribed in subsection (e)(11). 


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1 SEC. 4. BLOOD LEAD LEVEL SURVEILLANCE AND EDU2 CATION FUNDING. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

4 Human Services may award grants to States, the District 

5 of Columbia, Territories, and local governments to— 

6 (1) increase blood lead level screening, including 

7 screening for elevated blood lead levels in infants, 

8 children, and pregnant women; 

9 (2) ensure referral for treatment of, and envi10 ronmental intervention for, infants and children with 

11 elevated blood lead levels; 

12 (3) conduct blood lead level surveillance; 

13 (4) facilitate data collection and analysis to bet14 ter understand lead poisoning risk, including with 

15 respect to health, housing, and other environmental 

16 lead exposure source data; 

17 (5) support data analysis for lead-poisoning 

18 prevention resource targeting; and 

19 (6) educate the public on the impact of lead 

20 poisoning, including education to prevent and miti21 gate the impact of childhood lead poisoning. 

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

23 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

24 $500,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2020 through 

25 2024. 


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1 SEC. 5. ALIGNMENT WITH FEDERAL HEALTH AND HOUSING 

2 STANDARDS. 

3 To be eligible to receive funding under section 3 or 

4 4 of this Act, under any program of the Office of Lead 

5 Hazard Control and Healthy Homes of the Department 

6 of Housing and Urban Development, or under the Child7 hood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program of the Centers 

8 for Disease Control and Prevention, a State or local gov9 ernment (or any subdivision thereof) shall— 

10 (1) have in effect a blood lead reference level at 

11 or below the blood lead reference level of the Centers 

12 for Disease Control and Prevention; and 

13 (2) require an environmental investigation, in 

14 accordance with the 2012 edition of the Department 

15 of Housing and Urban Development’s ‘‘Guidelines 

16 for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint 

17 Hazards in Housing’’, to identify environmental 

18 sources of lead exposure in residential properties and 

19 childcare facilities occupied by a child with an ele20 vated blood lead level. 


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1 SEC. 6. LEAD HAZARD INSPECTION, DISCLOSURE, AND RE2 MEDIATION, REPLACEMENT, AND REPAIR IN 

3 FEDERALLY SUPPORTED HOUSING AND 

4 HOUSING WITH FEDERALLY RELATED MORT5 GAGES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

7 Urban Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Di8 rector of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the 

9 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall mandate alignment 

10 with Federal laws, including those related to lead-risk as11 sessment and lead-hazard remediation, as a condition of 

12 eligibility for— 

13 (1) any Federal mortgage assistance, any direct 

14 Federal mortgage, or any mortgage insurance or 

15 guarantee, through the Department of Housing and 

16 Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture, 

17 the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal 

18 National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home 

19 Loan Mortgage Corporation, or the Federal Home 

20 Loan Banks; or 

21 (2) any federally supported housing (as such 

22 term is defined in section 7). 

23 (b) STANDARD ACTIVITIES REQUIRED IN FEDER24 ALLY ASSISTED HOUSING.—The Secretary of Housing 

25 and Urban Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, the 

26 Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the 


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1 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall require the following 

2 activities, when appropriate, with respect to any federally 

3 supported housing and any housing for which any mort4 gage, or mortgage assistance, insurance, or guarantee re5 ferred to in subsection (a)(1) is provided: 

6 (1) Lead-risk assessments including lead dust 

7 wipe testing, carried out by professionals with Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency-required training and 

9 certification. 

10 (2) Drinking water testing and identification of 

11 lead service line and leaded plumbing fixtures. 

12 (3) Testing of soil for lead hazards. 

13 (4) Lead remediation or abatement, lead-based 

14 paint hazards in accordance with State or municipal 

15 health and housing regulations. 

16 (5) Replacement of leaded plumbing and lead 

17 service line replacement in communities where water 

18 utility will or is required to replace the utility-owned 

19 portion. 

20 (6) Remediation of lead hazards in soil. 

21 (7) Disclosure of identified lead hazards to rel22 evant parties including tenants, buyers, sellers, in23 vestors, Federal, State, and local housing and health 

24 officials as required by law or regulation, and other 

25 required parties. 


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1 (8) Temporary relocation of families while lead 

2 hazard reduction measures are being conducted. 

3 (9) Other activities that the agency heads speci4 fied in subsection (a) determine appropriate to pro5 mote the purposes of this Act. 

6 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ABATEMENT.—The term ‘‘abatement’’ 

9 means the complete and permanent elimination of 

10 lead hazards. 

11 (2) BLOOD LEAD REFERENCE LEVEL.—The 

12 term ‘‘blood lead reference level’’ means the min13 imum concentration of lead in an individual’s blood, 

14 at or above which the jurisdiction or the Centers for 

15 Disease Control and Prevention, as applicable, rec16 ommends public health actions be taken. 

17 (3) FEDERALLY SUPPORTED HOUSING.—The 

18 term ‘‘federally supported housing’’ means housing 

19 for which assistance is provided by the Federal Gov20 ernment under— 

21 (A) section 221(d)(3) or 236 of the Na22 tional Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715l(d)(3); 

23 1715z–1); 

24 (B) section 101 of the Housing and Urban 

25 Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s); 


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1 (C) section 8 of the United States Housing 

2 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f); or 

3 (D) sections 502(a), 504, 514, 515, 516, 

4 or 533 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 

5 1472(a), 1474, 1484, 1485, 1486, 1490m). 

6 (4) LEAD-BASED PAINT.—The term ‘‘lead-based 

7 paint’’ means paint or other surface coatings that 

8 contain lead in excess of limits established under 

9 section 302(c) of the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning 

10 Prevention Act (42 U.S.C. 4822(c)). 

11 (5) LEAD-BASED PAINT HAZARD.—The term 

12 ‘‘lead-based paint hazard’’ means any condition that 

13 causes exposure to lead from lead-contaminated 

14 dust, lead-contaminated soil, lead-contaminated 

15 paint that is deteriorated or present in accessible 

16 surfaces, friction surfaces, or impact surfaces that 

17 would result in adverse human health effects as es18 tablished by the appropriate Federal agency. 

19 (6) LEAD-CONTAMINATED DUST.—The term 

20 ‘‘lead-contaminated dust’’ means surface dust in res21 idential dwellings that contains an area or mass con22 centration of lead in excess of levels determined by 

23 the appropriate Federal agency to pose a threat of 

24 adverse health effects in pregnant women or young 

25 children. 


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1 (7) LEAD DUST WIPE TESTING.—The term 

2 ‘‘lead dust wipe testing’’ means the process of 

3 verifying that the concentrations of lead dust 

4 present on household interior surfaces are lower 

5 than allowable standards. 

6 (8) LEAD SERVICE LINE.—The term ‘‘lead serv7 ice line’’ means a pipe that connects the water main 

8 to the building inlet and contains lead. 

9 (9) LOAN GUARANTEE.—The term ‘‘loan guar10 antee’’ means a formal agreement that 1 party will 

11 assume the debt obligation of a borrower if they are 

12 no longer able to pay the principal or interest of a 

13 loan. 

14 (10) REMEDIATION.—The term ‘‘remediation’’ 

15 means an action taken to eliminate lead hazards in 

16 a nonpermanent way. 

17 (11) RESIDENTIAL DWELLING.—The term ‘‘res18 idential dwelling’’ means— 

19 (A) a single-family dwelling, including at20 tached structures such as porches and stoops; 

21 or 

22 (B) a single-family dwelling unit in a 

23 structure that contains more than 1 separate 

24 residential dwelling unit, and in which each 

25 such unit is used or occupied, or intended to be 


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1 used or occupied, in whole or in part, as the 

2 home or residence of one or more persons. 

3 (12) RESIDENTIAL REAL PROPERTY.—The term 

4 ‘‘residential real property’’ means real property on 

5 which there is situated one or more residential dwell6 ings used or occupied, or intended to be used or oc7 cupied, in whole or in part, as the home or residence 

8 of one or more persons. 

9 (13) REVOLVING LOAN FUND.—The term ‘‘re10 volving loan fund’’ means a self-replenishing financ11 ing mechanism that utilizes debt payments as capital 

12 to issue new loans. 

13 (14) RISK ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘risk as14 sessment’’ means an on-site investigation to deter15 mine and report the existence, nature, severity, and 

16 location of lead-based paint hazards in the residen17 tial dwellings, including— 

18 (A) information gathering regarding the 

19 age and history of the housing and occupancy 

20 by children under age 6; 

21 (B) visual inspection; 

22 (C) limited wipe sampling or other environ23 mental sampling techniques; 

24 (D) other activity as may be appropriate; 

25 and 


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1 (E) provision of a report explaining the re2 sults of the investigation. 

Æ 


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