MOLD MAKES AN APPEARANCE AT STATE CAPITOL

While mold has been with us since the beginning of time, it has made its first appearance at the state legislature in the form of three bills to address its invasion of commercial and residential housing.

AB 178 (R-Cox) - This bill requires residential and commercial property owners to disclose to tenants the presence of mold within or on a unit to the extent that it endangers the health, property, safety, or welfare of the occupants. It imposes a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation of this requirement. This bill also makes the presence of mold in a building a substandard condition. AB 178 successfully moved out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

AB 284 (D-Jackson) - This bill requires the Department of Health Services to establish a toxic mold surveillance and monitoring program and to examine the feasibility of establishing a pilot surveillance network with local agencies to minimize the adverse effects of toxic mold on human health. At this writing, AB 284 has not yet been set for a hearing.

SB 732 (D-Ortiz) - This bill enacts the Toxic Mold Protection Act, and requires the Department of Health Services to adopt specific regulations to protect the public health from toxic mold, and to develop public education materials and resources to inform the public about the health effects of molds, methods of prevention, methods of identification, remediation of mold growth, and contact information to organizations or governmental entities to assist public concerns.

This bill also requires the Department of Health Services to conduct studies, consider specific delineated criteria, and consult with professional and medical experts in the field to arrive at permissible exposure limits to mold that will protect the public health and avert adverse health risks to a meaningful portion of the general population. It sets the standards for the identification and the remediation of toxic molds.

This bill also adds toxic mold to the list of both substandard conditions and a structural hazard to health, for buildings used for human habitation.

Finally, it requires that any person who sells or rents residential real property, or sells commercial property, to provide a written disclosure to the potential buyer or renter, disclosing the presence and location of mold-containing construction materials in the building, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system, or surrounding environments as well as the potential health risks that may result from exposure to mold.

SB 732 successfully moved out of the Senate Health Committee. It will now be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee in May.

We will keep you updated on these bills as the legislative session moves forward.