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Lead‑abatement Advocates Urge Senate to Restore Funding Cut in House Version of HB96
Summary
Ohio Healthy Homes Network and local advocates warned the committee that cuts to lead-abatement and lead‑safe home funds would curtail testing, investigations and hazard control in a state with high childhood lead exposure rates.
Fred Strayhorn of the Ohio Healthy Homes Network told the committee the House-passed version of HB96 “eliminated funding in the lead abatement line item 440,527 and significantly reduced funding in the Lead Safe Home Fund line item 440,053.” He asked the Senate to restore the governor’s executive-budget funding levels for both programs.
Strayhorn said Ohio ranks second worst in the nation for children testing positive for elevated blood lead levels and estimated two‑thirds of Ohio housing contains lead paint. He told senators that about 3.5 million homes may contain lead paint and roughly 427,000 of those are occupied by children under age 6, the group most vulnerable to irreversible harm from lead exposure.
Strayhorn warned that without restored funding the Ohio Department of Health could be forced to scale back testing, investigations, interventions and local investments that currently help communities identify and remediate lead hazards.
No formal committee action was taken. Strayhorn urged the Senate to restore the line-item funding so state agencies can continue testing, conduct lead investigations, provide intervention services for affected families and fund local lead-hazard-control programs.
The testimony emphasized the lifelong developmental harms of childhood lead exposure and framed the funding as prevention: advocates said there is no cure for lead poisoning and that early remediation prevents irreversible cognitive and behavioral damage.
