I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1518

To amend title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992

to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide

assistance for startup costs of community programs to prevent residentially based lead poisoning in children.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 21, 1999

Mr. WEYGAND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to authorize the Secretary of Housing

and Urban Development to provide assistance for startup

costs of community programs to prevent residentially

based lead poisoning in children.

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 Evaluation,

5 Abatement, and Detection Center Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds as follows:
2

•HR 1518 IH

1 (1) Lead poisoning in residential environments

2 is a major health problem in older American cities.

3 (2) It is estimated that 83 percent of privately

4 owned housing units and 86 percent of public hous5 ing units built before 1980 contain lead hazards.

6 (3) Lead-based paint remains the most common

7 source of lead exposure.

8 (4) The main source of lead poisoning among

9 children is the dust that comes from chipping lead10 based paint or dust that is created during residential

11 repainting or remodeling projects.

12 (5) Even low levels of lead in the body are

13 harmful and are associated with reduced intelligence

14 and attention span, hearing loss, stunted growth,

15 reading and learning problems, and behavioral dif16 ficulties.

17 (6) Nearly 5 percent of American children who

18 are 1 to 5 years of age suffer from lead poisoning.

19 (7) 16 percent of low-income children living in

20 older housing suffer from lead poisoning.

21 (8) 22 percent of African American children liv22 ing in older housing suffer from lead poisoning.
3

•HR 1518 IH

1 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR STARTUP COSTS OF PRO2 GRAMS TO PREVENT RESIDENTIALLY BASED

3 LEAD POISONING IN CHILDREN.

4 Subtitle A of title X of the Housing and Community

5 Development Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is

6 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 1019. GRANTS FOR STARTUP COSTS OF COMMUNITY

8 CENTER PROGRAMS.

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

10 Urban Development may make grants to public and non11 profit private entities for the purpose of assisting such en12 tities in establishing, in geographic areas described in sub13 section (d), community programs that provide residential

14 lead-based paint poisoning prevention services at or

15 through single sites.

16 ‘‘(b) USE OF GRANT.—A grant under subsection (a)

17 may be expended for the initial costs of providing the sin18 gle-site facilities (including the acquisition and rehabilita19 tion of facilities), personnel, and equipment for a commu20 nity program described in such subsection, and for such

21 other costs of establishing the program as the Secretary

22 determines to be appropriate. Such a grant may not be

23 expended to provide the services described in such sub24 section and may not otherwise be expended to pay the

25 costs of operating such a program.
4

•HR 1518 IH

1 ‘‘(c) SERVICES.—For purposes of this section, the

2 term ‘residential lead-based paint poisoning prevention

3 services’ means any services appropriate to prevent lead

4 poisoning in infants and children, especially lead poisoning

5 resulting from the presence of lead-based paint in dwelling

6 units, including—

7 ‘‘(1) conducting risk assessments and inspec8 tions in housing, providing for interim control and

9 abatement of lead-based paint hazards in housing,

10 and any other activities referred to in section

11 1011(e); and

12 ‘‘(2) any services described in section

13 317A(a)(1) of the Public Health Service Act.

14 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE GEOGRAPHIC AREAS.—For purposes

15 of subsection (a), a geographic area described in this sub16 section is a geographic area that meets the following con17 ditions:

18 ‘‘(1) A significant portion of the housing in the

19 area was constructed before 1950.

20 ‘‘(2) The area has a significant number of chil21 dren who are 5 years of age or younger and have

22 elevated blood lead levels.

23 ‘‘(3) Such other conditions as the Secretary

24 may establish.’’.
5

•HR 1518 IH

1 ‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section,

2 the Secretary shall consult with the Director of the Cen3 ters for Disease Control and Prevention.

4 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

5 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

6 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for

7 each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004.’’.

Æ