As part of his Administration’s continued efforts to reduce lead exposure for residents across the State, Governor Murphy recently signed three bills into law. These new pieces of legislation work together to increase the testing and remediation requirements for lead-based paints and service lines made of lead parts.

The first new law requires increased inspections for lead-based paint on certain residential properties every three years and upon tenant turnover. The second requires public community water systems to inventory and replace service pipes made from lead within 10 years. The third new law removes restrictions on special assessments for replacement of residential lead service lines.

Many of the lawmakers who drafted and voted for these laws have expressed the desperate need for action on lead exposure, particularly in the drinking water in low-income areas across the State. Citing the American Water Works Association, Senator Troy Singleton stated that “there are around 350,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey served by lead service lines.” Senator M. Teresa Ruiz stated that in “certain areas of the state as many 7.6 percent of children have elevated blood lead levels.” As Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli stated, “even very low blood lead levels can cause permanent, irreversible neurological damage.” The overhaul of all lead-based water service systems aims to prevent this exposure and bring these levels down significantly.

You can read more about these bills and what the lawmakers who created them have to say in the State’s news release here.