No letup in regulatory burden seen: New York legislative update dispels any notion of easing.

New York legislative update dispels any notion of easing

East Rutherford, N.J., March 12 - Any notion that regulatory actions are on the decline was dispelled recently when two New York area paint organizations gathered for their annual update on regulatory and legislative activities.

Aside from predictions that government officials will be pushing hard to assign responsibility for lead-poisoning cases to the paint industry, speakers told of a growing threat of initiative-and-referendum amendments to several state constitutions that would encourage company employees and the public to report real or imagined violations of environmental and hazardous-substances regulations. Such statutes would provide rewards to the whistle-blowers.

That was some of the news delivered at the annual Joint Legislative Update of the Metropolitan New York Paint and Coatings Association and New York Society for Coatings Technology, held at the Landmark II here.

Also discussed by a procession of industry and government speakers were new and tougher environmental and workplace rules. The event drew a crowd of 160 despite heavy snow.

The message that the paint and coatings industry is in for more headaches spawned by …