After three years, two postponements, one lawsuit and countless compromises, the lead-hazard mitigation law goes into effect today.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch

Russell Cole, vice president of RI Lead Technicians Inc., inspects for lead yesterday at 24 Wood St., in Providence's Armory district. At right is house manager/developer Joe Bonales. The law requires many rental units to be inspected.

In June 2002, the General Assembly passed the law intended to reduce the number of children poisoned by lead paint. It required landlords to take a lead-awareness class and have their properties inspected and certified by independent lead inspectors or technicians.

The law was scheduled to go into effect in June 2004; it was postponed until June 2005 and again, until today.

Last week, several members of a property owners' association asked a judge to block the law from taking effect, and requested a hearing to determine the constitutionality of parts of the law. The hearing was granted, but the injunction was not.

As of today, "landlords are only required to take, or have taken, the three-hour course," said Sydavong "Simon" Kue, coordinator for the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission, one of the many stakeholders involved in shaping the new law.

"They don't have to do anything until there's a change in tenants," he said, or, if the property is currently vacant, until a new tenant signs a lease.

"The law just wants owners to include lead safety in the things it takes care of between tenants."

Once there is a change in tenants, or in two years, if there hasn't been a turnover, landlords are required to conduct a visual inspection and have any hazardous conditions fixed. Smaller problem areas, such as a hole in a wall, can be fixed by the owner after he or she attends the lead-education class and learns what safety measures need to be taken.

Bigger problems will need to be addressed by a licensed professional certified by the state Department of Health.

If there are no problems, or if they have been fixed by the owner or a professional, the landlord must have an independent clearance inspection after which, if there are no remaining problems, the landlord gets a certificate of conformance.

Two months before the law was initially scheduled to take effect, the lead-awareness class had not yet been offered. This time around, landlords are more prepared: more than 14,000 landlords have already completed the class, according to Kue.

Although there are no exact numbers on how many landlords are in the state, Kue said there are approximately 160,000 rental units.

Last year, there were only 63 certified lead inspectors; now, Kue said, there are more than 200 inspectors and technicians qualified to perform the state regulated inspection.

RI Lead Technicians Inc., run by Kent Ackley and Russell Cole, is one of two-dozen private companies offering the lead-hazard awareness class.

Cole was a landlord, and his comments during the three-hour class spanned the spectrum of opinions about the new law.

"The advocates had their story told accurately," he said, "and some of their opponents did, too."

Cole said he usually has one or two landlords in class who have strong, negative opinions about the law and the financial burden they feel it puts on them.

"But by the time they hear all of the material," he said, "they start to recognize that this isn't a simple issue."

At a lead-hazard awareness course last week, landlords expressed concern about the availability of lead-liability insurance coverage. The course ran late after attendees were told an insurance agent was available to answer questions.

Allstate and Nationwide Insurance companies say they will offer lead-liability insurance to landlords at no additional cost to their existing policies as long as the insured properties are compliant with the lead-hazard mitigation law. Both companies, according to Robin Gorneau, communications specialist at Allstate, and Kevin Gaffney, property director for New England at Nationwide, will require units to produce certificates of conformance even if they are exempt under state law.

Four types of rental properties are exempt from the new mitigation law: housing that has previously been certified as lead-safe or lead-free; housing that is legally restricted to residents 62 or older; temporary housing not rented to the same person for more than 100 days per calendar year; and owner-occupied two- and three-unit housing.

The property owners' association, headed by Rep. Joseph A. Trillo, R-Warwick, claims the final exemption is unconstitutional, favoring some landlords over others arbitrarily. But according to a news release sent from Trillo's office last month, "The central premise of the suit is that the group disagrees with the General Assembly's assessment of the underlying lead problem."

Three months before his organization filed the lawsuit, Trillo sponsored an amendment to the law. That amendment would have implemented an exemption for buildings with as many as nine rental units.

Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. granted the property owners a hearing, scheduled for Dec. 7. In the meantime, both lawyers and the judge agreed, it is unlikely that there would be any problems even though the law takes effect today.

One reason a problem is unlikely is that, according to Kue at the Housing Resources Commission, the mitigation law has no enforcement clause. Property owners are treated the same as they were before the mitigation law went into effect.

If a violation is reported, but no one has been poisoned, and the landlord does not make the necessary repairs in the allotted time, a building code violation is reported to the appropriate municipal division.

If a child has been lead poisoned, the Department of Health takes over, under the provisions of the lead-poisoning prevention law. The owner is given notice and must hire a licensed professional to fix problems, and, depending on the severity of the poisoning, the child and family might be referred to a family-services program.

Although there is no enforcement stated in the new law, supporters from all sides have expressed their satisfaction that the new law does not rely on a poisoned child to have an effect.

William Noel, a landlord who attended the education class last week, said he heard "nothing new" during the three hours. He owns five single-unit rentals in West Warwick and said that he has always maintained them well; the only difference is that now he'll need a certificate to prove it.

"I think it's legislation that is intended to be proactive with landlords and basic maintenance," said Marie Stoeckel, chief at the office of occupational health at the state Department of Health. Stoeckel and the Department of Health worked with lawmakers and advocates to shape the new law.

Liz Colon, director of training and outreach at the Childhood Lead Action Project, said that because the law isn't "one size fits all," certain nuances might be difficult to understand out of context.

"I think the lead-hazard mitigation law is a very good law," she said. "It's just misunderstood."

For information about the lead-hazard mitigation law, visit the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission Web site at http://www.hrc.ri.gov/mitigation.html

Brandie Jefferson has a fellowship with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. She can be reached at bjeffers [at] projo.com.