California Paint Council addresses proposed lead rules. (NPCA on the Issues)

THE CALIFORNIA Department of Health Services (DHS) is currently drafting emergency regulations to implement the state's 1991 Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, which requires that a "fee" be paid by manufacturers of products that currently contain lead or that contained lead in the past.

Under the law, the fee is to be based on a product's contribution to environmental lead contamination; paint is third on the law's list of contaminants. The fees are intended to generate a $16-million-a-year fund for a state lead poisoning testing program that would screen children under the age of 6 for elevated blood-lead levels and provide case management for chronic exposures.

Initially, the DHS proposed a funding formula that would have placed 88 percent of the burden on petroleum products, 6 percent on industrial emissions, and 6 percent on the paint industry. In September, however, the DHS drastically modified these percentages: it proposed that the petroleum and coatings industries each assume approximately 50 percent of $15 million, while another $1 million be obtained from other sources.

Throughout this rulemaking process, the NPCA's California Paint Council (CPC) -- part …