WASHINGTON, DC - Adding the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) and the Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WMDA) to its long list of trade group supporters, legislation to improve the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) rule was reintroduced to the House Of Representatives today.

The Lead Exposure Reduction Amendments Act Of 2013 (H.R. 2093), introduced by Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and twenty-one co-sponsors, would reinstate the opt-out provision clause to allow home owners without children under six or pregnant women residing to choose whether or not to comply with LRRP regulatoin, which would allow contractors to forego rigorous work practices.

"The government monitoring how you paint your kitchen walls is straight out of a Twilight Zone episode," said Murphy. "My bill protects children's health without burdening homeowners and contractors with costly regulations that have little relevance in routine home repair and upkeep."

When the opt-out provision was dropped in July 2010 under the guise that it would provide safer conditions for children and expecting mothers, the EPA more than doubled the number of homes subject to the LRRP rule, which in turn added an estimated $336 million per year in compliance costs.

Another red flag came up when the EPA promised to introduce a commercially available test kit that produces no more than 10% false positives three years ago to no avail. This oversight makes it near impossible for most homeowners to comply with the rule and has added millions in compliance costs. 

"We completely support the goal of protecting small children and pregnant woman from lead, but EPA has trampled over the original intent of the Lead Rule," said NLBMDA Chairman Chuck Bankston."EPA's forceful focus on paperwork violations, failure to approve a lead test kit meeting its own standards, and ever broadening interpretation of the rule is having a chilling effect on our industry." 

WMDA President and CEO Michael O'Brien added, " The EPA is unnecessarily hurting our economic recovery and consumers' ability to get new energy efficient products into their homes by expanding the Lead Rule beyond its original intent."

The proposed bill mirrors S. 484, which was introduced to the senate by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) in March.