PRINTER'S NO. 1439
No. 130 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY KREBS, ITKIN, YOUNGBLOOD, THOMAS, FICHTER, TULLI,
HERMAN, BELARDI, TRELLO, WALKO, LEDERER, McCALL, GEIST,
PISTELLA, HALUSKA, JOSEPHS, HENNESSEY, VITALI, BEBKO-JONES,
READSHAW, CARONE, MILLER, PESCI, DALEY, MELIO, SHANER,
HORSEY, C. WILLIAMS, MANDERINO, STEELMAN, RAMOS, LYNCH,
E. Z. TAYLOR, BROWNE, HASAY, CAPPABIANCA AND CURRY,
APRIL 10, 1997
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, APRIL 10, 1997
A RESOLUTION
1 Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to
2 conduct a thorough review of the programs and services
3 relating to lead poisoning prevention, treatment and control
4 that exist in this Commonwealth and to make a report with
5 recommendations to the House of Representatives.
6 WHEREAS, Lead poisoning is the nation's number one
7 environmental health threat to young children; and
8 WHEREAS, It is estimated that of the over 1 million children
9 six years of age or younger who live in this Commonwealth,
10 approximately 89,000 of those children have blood-lead levels
11 above those determined by the Centers for Disease Control and
12 Prevention to be a health concern; and
13 WHEREAS, The older the structure, the more likely is the
14 existence of lead-based paint, the greater the amount of lead
15 pigment in the paint and the greater the likelihood of the use
16 of lead pipes for drinking water; and
17 WHEREAS, More than 2.2 million housing units in this
1 Commonwealth, or 45% of all units, were built before 1940; and
2 WHEREAS, Children are more exposed to lead than older groups
3 because their normal hand-to-mouth activities may introduce many
4 nonfood items into their gastrointestinal tract, and the
5 efficiency of gastrointestinal absorption of lead in food and
6 beverages in children has been estimated to be around 40%; and
7 WHEREAS, Lead poisoning is proven to cause difficulty in
8 learning, delays in development, blindness, speech and hearing
9 problems and muscle weakness; and
10 WHEREAS, Although various Federal, State and local agencies
11 play a role in prevention, treatment and control of lead
12 poisoning, there does not currently exist any Statewide
13 comprehensive system for lead poisoning prevention, treatment
14 and control; and
15 WHEREAS, Most current efforts focus on secondary prevention,
16 dealing with children who have already been poisoned. Efforts
17 must be shifted to primary prevention designed to systematically
18 identify and remediate environmental sources of lead, including,
19 most importantly, dwellings containing old lead paint; therefore
20 be it
21 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the
22 Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to undertake a
23 comprehensive review of the various lead poisoning prevention,
24 treatment and control programs; and be it further
25 RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
26 report to the House of Representatives information which
27 includes, but is not limited to:
28 (1) a description of the various programs and services;
29 (2) an analysis of the effectiveness of these programs
30 and services;
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1 (3) information on the cost of the programs and services
2 and the number of children six years of age or younger who
3 are served by them;
4 (4) information on the government funding streams
5 available for such programs and services and a description of
6 those funding streams used;
7 (5) information on available nongovernment funding
8 sources and the extent to which these have been accessed and
9 used by the Commonwealth;
10 (6) recommendations for future programs and services,
11 including a discussion of the most effective strategy toward
12 the goal of establishing a comprehensive, multifaceted
13 approach to preventing childhood lead poisoning which would
14 include screening and surveillance, risk identification,
15 primary prevention activities, interagency coordination and
16 services for children diagnosed with lead poisoning; and
17 (7) recommendations of any statutory or regulatory
18 changes needed for implementation of these recommendations
19 and achievement of this goal;
20 and be it further
21 RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
22 submit the report to the House of Representatives by November
23 30, 1997, or within six months of the passage of this
24 resolution, whichever occurs later.
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