2000 Minnesota Statutes

     119A.46 Lead abatement program. 

    Subdivision 1.    Definitions.  (a) The definitions in 
 section 144.9501 and in this subdivision apply to this section. 

    (b) "Eligible organization" means a lead contractor, city, 
 board of health, community health department, community action 
 agency as defined in section 119A.374, or community development 
 corporation. 

    (c) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of children, 
 families, and learning, or the commissioner of the Minnesota 
 housing finance agency as authorized by section 462A.05, 
 subdivision 15c. 

    Subd. 2.    Grants; administration.  Within the limits 
 of the available appropriation, the commissioner must develop a 
 swab team services program which may make demonstration and 
 training grants to eligible organizations to train workers to 
 provide swab team services and swab team services for 
 residential property.  Grants may be awarded to nonprofit 
 organizations to provide technical assistance and training to 
 ensure quality and consistency within the statewide program.  
 Grants must be awarded to help ensure full-time employment to 
 workers providing swab team services and must be awarded for a 
 two-year period. 

    Grants awarded under this section must be made in 
 consultation with the commissioners of the department of health 
 and the housing finance agency, and representatives of 
 neighborhood groups from areas at high risk for toxic lead 
 exposure, a labor organization, the lead coalition, community 
 action agencies, and the legal aid society.  The consulting team 
 must review grant applications and recommend awards to eligible 
 organizations that meet requirements for receiving a grant under 
 this section. 

    Subd. 3.    Applicants.  (a) Interested eligible 
 organizations may apply to the commissioner for grants under 
 this section.  Two or more eligible organizations may jointly 
 apply for a grant.  Priority shall be given to community action 
 agencies in greater Minnesota and to either community action 
 agencies or neighborhood based nonprofit organizations in cities 
 of the first class.  Of the total annual appropriation, 12.5 
 percent may be used for administrative purposes.  The 
 commissioner may deviate from this percentage if a grantee can 
 justify the need for a larger administrative allowance.  Of this 
 amount, up to five percent may be used by the commissioner for 
 state administrative purposes.  Applications must provide 
 information requested by the commissioner, including at least 
 the information required to assess the factors listed in 
 paragraph (d).  

    (b) The commissioner must coordinate with the commissioner 
 of health who must consult with boards of health to provide swab 
 team services for purposes of secondary prevention.  The 
 priority for swab teams created by grants to eligible 
 organizations under this section must be work assigned by the 
 commissioner of health, or by a board of health if so designated 
 by the commissioner of health, to provide secondary prevention 
 swab team services to fulfill the requirements of section 
 144.9504, subdivision 6, in response to a lead order.  Swab 
 teams assigned work under this section by the commissioner, that 
 are not engaged daily in fulfilling the requirements of section 
 144.9504, subdivision 6, must deliver swab team services in 
 response to elevated blood lead levels as defined in section 
 144.9501, subdivision 9, where lead orders were not issued, and 
 for purposes of primary prevention in census tracts known to be 
 in areas at high risk for toxic lead exposure as described in 
 section 144.9503, subdivision 2. 

    (c) Any additional money must be used for grants to 
 establish swab teams for primary prevention under section 
 144.9503, in census tracts in areas at high risk for toxic lead 
 exposure as determined under section 144.9503, subdivision 2.  

    (d) In evaluating grant applications, the commissioner must 
 consider the following criteria: 

    (1) the use of lead contractors and lead workers for 
 residential swab team services; 

    (2) the participation of neighborhood groups and 
 individuals, as swab team workers, in areas at high risk for 
 toxic lead exposure; 

    (3) plans for the provision of swab team services for 
 primary and secondary prevention as required under subdivision 
 4; 

    (4) plans for supervision, training, career development, 
 and postprogram placement of swab team members; 

    (5) plans for resident and property owner education on lead 
 safety; 

    (6) plans for distributing cleaning supplies to area 
 residents and educating residents and property owners on 
 cleaning techniques; 

    (7) sources of other funding and cost estimates for 
 training, lead inspections, swab team services, equipment, 
 monitoring, testing, and administration; 

    (8) measures of program effectiveness; 

    (9) coordination of program activities with other federal, 
 state, and local public health, job training, apprenticeship, 
 and housing renovation programs including the emergency jobs 
 program under sections 268.672 to 268.881; and 

    (10) prior experience in providing swab team services. 

    Subd. 4.    Lead supervisor or certified firm.  (a) 
 Eligible organizations and lead supervisors or certified firms 
 may participate in the swab team program.  An eligible 
 organization receiving a grant under this section must assure 
 that all participating lead supervisors or certified firms are 
 licensed and that all swab team workers are certified by the 
 department of health under section 144.9505.  Eligible 
 organizations and lead supervisors or certified firms may 
 distinguish between interior and exterior services in assigning 
 duties and may participate in the program by: 

    (1) providing on-the-job training for swab team workers; 

    (2) providing swab team services to meet the requirements 
 of sections 144.9503, subdivision 4, and 144.9504, subdivision 
 6; 

    (3) providing a removal and replacement component using 
 skilled craft workers under subdivision 7; 

    (4) providing lead testing according to subdivision 8; 

    (5) providing lead dust cleaning supplies, as described in 
 section 144.9507, subdivision 4, paragraph (c), to residents; or 

    (6) having a swab team worker instruct residents and 
 property owners on appropriate lead control techniques, 
 including the lead-safe directives developed by the commissioner 
 of health.  

    (b) Participating lead supervisors or certified firms must: 

    (1) demonstrate proof of workers' compensation and general 
 liability insurance coverage; 

    (2) be knowledgeable about lead abatement requirements 
 established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and lead 
 hazard reduction requirements and lead-safe directives of the 
 commissioner of health; 

    (3) demonstrate experience with on-the-job training 
 programs; 

    (4) demonstrate an ability to recruit employees from areas 
 at high risk for toxic lead exposure; and 

    (5) demonstrate experience in working with low-income 
 clients. 

    Subd. 5.    Swab team workers.  Each worker engaged in 
 swab team services established under this section must have 
 blood lead concentrations below 15 micrograms of lead per 
 deciliter of whole blood as determined by a baseline blood lead 
 screening.  Any organization receiving a grant under this 
 section is responsible for lead screening and must assure that 
 all swab team workers meet the standards established in this 
 subdivision.  Grantees must use appropriate workplace procedures 
 including following the lead-safe directives developed by the 
 commissioner of health to reduce risk of elevated blood lead 
 levels.  Grantees and participating contractors must report all 
 employee blood lead levels that exceed 15 micrograms of lead per 
 deciliter of whole blood to the commissioner of health.  

    Subd. 6.    On-the-job training component.  (a) Programs 
 established under this section must provide on-the-job training 
 for swab team workers.  Training methods must follow procedures 
 established under section 144.9506.  

    (b) Swab team workers must receive monetary compensation 
 equal to the prevailing wage as defined in section 177.42, 
 subdivision 6, for comparable jobs in the licensed contractor's 
 principal business. 

    Subd. 7.    Removal and replacement component.  (a) 
 Within the limits of the available appropriation and if a need 
 is identified by a lead inspector, the commissioner may 
 establish a component for removal and replacement of 
 deteriorated paint in residential properties according to the 
 following criteria: 

    (1) components within a residence must have both 
 deteriorated lead-based paint and substrate damage beyond repair 
 or rotting wooden framework to be eligible for removal and 
 replacement; 

    (2) all removal and replacement must be done using 
 least-cost methods and following lead-safe directives; 

    (3) whenever windows and doors or other components covered 
 with deteriorated lead-based paint have sound substrate or are 
 not rotting, those components should be repaired, sent out for 
 stripping, planed down to remove deteriorated lead-based paint, 
 or covered with protective guards instead of being replaced, 
 provided that such an activity is the least-cost method of 
 providing the swab team service; 

    (4) removal and replacement or repair must be done by lead 
 contractors using skilled craft workers or trained swab team 
 members; and 

    (5) all craft work that requires a state license must be 
 supervised by a person with a state license in the craft work 
 being supervised.  The grant recipient may contract for this 
 supervision. 

    (b) The program design must: 

    (1) identify the need for on-the-job training of swab team 
 workers to be removal and replacement workers; and 

    (2) describe plans to involve appropriate groups in 
 designing methods to meet the need for training swab team 
 workers. 

    Subd. 8.    Testing and evaluation.  (a) Testing of the 
 environment is not necessary by swab teams whose work is 
 assigned by the commissioner of health or a designated board of 
 health under section 144.9504.  The commissioner of health or 
 designated board of health must share the analytical testing 
 data collected on each residence for purposes of secondary 
 prevention under section 144.9504 with the swab team workers in 
 order to provide constructive feedback on their work and to the 
 commissioner for the purposes set forth in paragraph (c). 

    (b) For purposes of primary prevention evaluation, the 
 following samples must be collected:  pretesting and posttesting 
 of one noncarpeted floor dust lead sample and a notation of the 
 extent and location of bare soil and of deteriorated lead-based 
 paint.  The analytical testing data collected on each residence 
 for purposes of primary prevention under section 144.9503 must 
 be shared with the swab team workers in order to provide 
 constructive feedback on their work and to the commissioner for 
 the purposes set forth in paragraph (c). 

    (c) The commissioner of health must establish a program in 
 cooperation with the commissioner to collect appropriate data as 
 required under paragraphs (a) and (b), in order to conduct an 
 ongoing evaluation of swab team services for primary and 
 secondary prevention.  Within the limits of available 
 appropriations, the commissioner of health must conduct or 
 contract with the commissioner, on up to 1,000 residences which 
 have received primary or secondary prevention swab team 
 services, a postremediation evaluation, on at least a quarterly 
 basis for a period of at least two years for each residence.  
 The evaluation must note the condition of the paint within the 
 residence, the extent of bare soil on the grounds, and collect 
 and analyze one noncarpeted floor dust lead sample.  The data 
 collected must be evaluated to determine the efficacy of 
 providing swab team services as a method of reducing lead 
 exposure in young children.  In evaluating this data, the 
 commissioner of health must consider city size, community 
 location, historic traffic flow, soil lead level of the property 
 by area or census tract, distance to industrial point sources 
 that emit lead, season of the year, age of the housing, age and 
 number of children living at the residence, the presence of pets 
 that move in and out of the residence, and other relevant 
 factors as the commissioner of health may determine.  This 
 evaluation of the swab team program may be paid from amounts 
 appropriated to the department of economic security for 
 providing swab team services. 

    Subd. 9.    Program benefits.  As a condition of 
 providing swab team services under this section, an organization 
 may require a property owner to not increase rents on a property 
 solely as a result of a substantial improvement made with public 
 funds under the programs in this section. 

    Subd. 10.    Requirements of organizations receiving 
 grants.  An eligible organization that is awarded a training 
 and demonstration grant under this section must prepare and 
 submit a quarterly progress report to the commissioner beginning 
 three months after receipt of the grant. 

    HIST: 1Sp1995 c 3 art 16 s 13; 1998 c 273 s 10; 1999 c 86 art 
 1 s 30