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Lead-prevention advocates ask Senate to restore lead-abatement funding cut in House version of HB 96
Summary
The Ohio Healthy Homes Network and coalition partners told the Senate Health Committee that House cuts to lead-abatement and Lead Safe Home Fund line items would halt testing, investigations and remediation; they urged restoration to executive-budget levels to continue statewide services.
Fred Strayhorn, executive director of the Ohio Healthy Homes Network and member of the Lead Free Kids Coalition, told the Senate Health Committee the House-passed budget eliminated funding in the lead abatement line item (identified in his testimony as line item 440,527) and significantly reduced the Lead Safe Home Fund (line item 44,053 in his testimony). He asked the Senate to restore both line items to the governor’s introduced amounts.
Strayhorn said Ohio has the second-highest rate in the nation of children with elevated blood-lead levels and that roughly two-thirds of Ohio housing contains lead paint, estimating about 3.5 million homes with lead paint and roughly 427,000 homes occupied by children under age 6. He warned that without restored funding the Ohio Department of Health and local partners would be unable to test children, perform lead investigations or provide remediation services.
Why it matters: Witnesses framed lead hazards as a statewide public-health problem in which prevention and abatement directly affect children’s development. They asked the Senate to restore funding to continue testing, case investigations and hazard removal activities that reduce long-term health and education costs.
No committee action was recorded; witnesses asked the Senate to restore funding in its version of HB 96.
