CLAREMONT – After several years of citywide lead poisoning prevention efforts, Gov. Chris Sununu is slated to sign a bill in Claremont that would increase testing for lead levels across the state.
The governor is scheduled to sign Senate Bill 247 at 10 a.m. Wednesday at The Common Man Inn and Restaurant.
The bill will require parents to have children tested for elevated blood lead levels to be admitted into public schools. Mayor Charlene Lovett was one of the 10 New Hampshire mayors to sign a Jan. 18 letter to Senate President Chuck Morse advocating for the policy passage.
“State leadership on the issue of childhood lead poisoning – through stronger, more protective laws – is essential to our communities’ ability to better protect our children,” the letter states. “When you consider the human and economic cost of childhood lead poisoning, continuing to wait for a statewide policy that addresses this issue is not an affordable option.”
The bill passed Jan. 3 after it was introduced nearly a year ago and moved quickly to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. Sen. Dan Feltes, D-15, t, was the primary sponsor of the bill.
The bill moved to the state’s House of Representatives in March, where it was moved to the Committee on Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs.
With the state having the oldest housing stock in the country, more than 62 percent of homes were built before lead paint was banned in 1978. The state sees about 880 cases of childhood lead poisoning each year. Claremont’s housing stock is among the oldest in the state, with more than 80 percent of the housing stock older than 1978.
Lead is absorbed into bones, disrupting the body’s development. The blood-brain barrier does not exist at a young age, making infants particularly susceptible to the effects of lead poisoning. The effects can manifest later in life as poor impulse control, behavioral problems and cognitive disabilities.
In April 2017, the Claremont School Board adopted a policy that parents would have to screen their children for lead before they could enter district schools. The policy saw a slight alteration in October after a parent complaint alerted district administrators to the lack of an opt-out clause in the policy.
Without any backing from state laws at the time, administrators found that the policy could not be enforced. The lead bill adds language to RSAs allowing for the testing as a public school requirement, giving teeth to the Claremont School District policy.
Prior to the bill’s signing, New Hampshire is the only New England state that does not require lead testing for public school admission.
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