Lead Poisoning at the Statehouse: A Window on Democratic Leadership

Barely two months ago, the governor launched a lead poisoning task force. He told the group he wanted them to work fast and give him some recommendations in time for the session that just got underway. Two significant proposals emerged. One would cut in half the contamination level in a child’s blood that would trigger state intervention. The other would give the state the power to inspect every apartment in a building for lead if one apartment is found to be hazardous.

State Public Health Director Mary Ann Cooney chaired the task force and she wrapped up its work with a sense of accomplishment.

TAPE: Ok, we had a motion. Do I hear a second. Ayes? No’s? So moved. Now we do have the opportunity to talk about some additional topics? [fade] Senator DeVries, did you want to lead that conversation

So, right after the task force approved its final recommendations, Democratic senator Betsi DeVries from Manchester passed around a bill she had submitted that morning. It largely followed the group’s suggestions --- with one notable exception. On blood contamination levels, the bill from DeVries tightened the state standard, but only half as much as the task force wanted. The task force wanted the federal standard of 10 micrograms per deciliter. DeVries softened that to 15 with the idea that the lower level would kick in four years from now.

DeVries is uncomfortable with the compromise in her own plan, but she worries that her fellow lawmakers wouldn’t go along with the extra state money the tougher federal standard would require.

DEVRIES The fiscal committee has been meeting. I’ve been sitting in on some of their meetings. I know some of the challenges the state is up against, of course education funding always looming on our horizon. I'm just offering a practical and pragmatic approach to legislation that I think will havea dollar sign attached to it that does not make it problematic to have it pass.

DeVries’s plan would save about 150 thousand dollars a year compared to the task force plan.
To not spend the full amount galls some of DeVries’s fellow Democrats.

SMITH On item after item in the budget, we are either going to pay now or we will pay later.

Marjorie Smith is the Democratic Chair of the House Finance Committee. The logic she used when Democrats were in the minority is the same one she relies on today.

SMITH I can tell you than in terms of lead poisoning. I can point out examples in terms of our entire corrections system. There are all kinds of things we can do to prevent and to protect. If we don't prevent and protect, I can guarantee, that at some point, it will cost us much much more to try to remediate.

With lead poisoning, the direct costs to taxpayers can be significant. When lead contamination causes brain damage, children can end up in special education programs. The City of Manchester estimates this adds a hundred thousand dollars a year to its school budget and there are children with lead poisoning across the entire state.

Smith says she knows what the right thing to do is. But she also says, the state’s tax system is designed to keep government on a short leash. She says, the only way lead poisoning prevention will get the money it deserves is if governor John Lynch puts it in his budget. If he doesn’t, her committee is unlikely to shoehorn it in.

SMITH The governor could not be more clear that he supports no significant change in how we raise money in this state. And whether it’s a child injured by lead pain; whether it’s an adult who is not going to get services that would make it possible for him to stay out of a nursing home, there are going to be a lot of deserving projects and purposes that will be left out of the budget.

Governor Lynch says the task force recommendations are good and positive and a step in the right direction, but as of this moment, he has not set aside money to pay for them. He shows no sign of taking on this issue with the vigor he brought to sexual predators or high school drop outs. He is waiting to see what emerges from the legislature. On the other hand, he says his goal is to protect kids and he does want to make headway on this problem.

LYNCH We need to identify what the priorities are and what the recommendations are, and then we’ll get into what it will cost to implement those recommendations. And I’m certainly very willing and open to look at the resources required to achieve that goal which I’ve just articulated.

But it won’t be just public spending that will shape the coming debate. Property owners fear that they will be forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars to fix up the apartments they own. Many experts disagree. They say in most cases, if tenants are aware of potential hazards and landlords do basic maintenance, even an apartment with lead paint can be safe.
The organized landlord groups in the state take no comfort in that. Joe Nelson is president of the Seacoast Property Owners Association. He opposes the current bill and when it comes time for public hearings, he and his colleagues plan to be there.

NELSON I’m always amazed at the look on legislators’ faces. Because when landlords show up, we don't look very rich. We look like the guy who has a couple of kids. He bought a four-unit in Dover, not to make a lot of money now, but to pay for his kids’ college education in 10 to 14 years. He’s going to be at that hearing because he and many other landlords will perceive this law as a threat to his family and his financial future.
In the past, property owners have been effective lobbyists. DeVries and other lawmakers remember very clearly, a year ago, the group blocked the most modest of proposals – the creation of a study committee. Property owners are less confident of success this year because of what Nelson calls the seismic shift of power in Concord.

They could have even more to worry about. The advocates for a tougher state law are more organized and better financed than before. Two of the state’s largest foundations, the Endowment for Health and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation have already or said they are prepared to put money into raising public awareness statewide. Manchester-based Child Health Services is coordinating the effort. When the landlords show up to testify, Rob Nordgren, head of Child Health Services, says so will the parents of kids.

NORDGREN Hundreds of kids in New Hampshire are poisoned every year. And the parents of those kids want to speak out and tell their stories and I think that will be an important piece of what we’re trying to do.

But even the staunchest advocates of tighter controls want to avoid a debate that pits the health of children against the landlords’ bottom line. Nordgren and his partners say they are looking for solutions that property owners will find affordable. Right now, the landlord’s are on edge because all they see is the promise of a tougher law. With Democrats in charge in Concord, it will be up to them to craft a way to bridge the gap, using whatever money the governor and his party are willing to spend.

For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg.