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Advocates urge Senate to restore lead‑abatement funds cut in House HB 96 version
Summary
Public‑health and healthy‑homes advocates told the Senate Health Committee that cuts to lead abatement and Lead Safe Home Fund line items in the House bill would halt testing, investigations and abatement work that protects children across every Ohio county.
Advocates for lead poisoning prevention asked the Senate Health Committee to restore funding the House removed from Ohio’s lead abatement and Lead Safe Home Fund line items in the House version of HB 96.
Fred Strayhorn, executive director of the Ohio Healthy Homes Network, told the committee that two‑thirds of Ohio housing likely contains lead paint and that roughly 427,000 homes are occupied by children under age 6. Ohio ranks second highest among states for the share of children testing positive for elevated blood lead levels, he said.
Why it matters: Lead exposure in early childhood can irreversibly harm brain development, behavior and lifelong learning, witnesses said. Strayhorn warned that without restoration of funding the Ohio Department of Health and local partners would lose capacity to test children, investigate exposures, provide interventions and carry out local lead hazard control.
Advocacy ask: The lead‑safety coalition requested restoring funding to the governor’s executive‑budget levels for both the lead abatement line item (440,527 referenced in testimony) and the Lead Safe Home Fund. They also sent corrected line‑item numbers to committee offices, noting an error in the written testimony.
Ending: Advocates framed the request as a bipartisan child‑protection issue and urged senators not to reduce the state’s recent investments in lead hazard prevention.
