The Vermont House has given preliminary approval to a bill designed to reduce the chances that kids will get lead poisoning from paint in old houses.
The measure advanced on a voice vote after lengthy debate and will be up for final action on today. It comes a year after the state Health Department cut in half its recommended cap for lead content in the blood of children under 6.
The state already has had a law affecting lead mitigation in rental housing. The new bill expands the call for reducing lead exposures to owner-occupied homes built before 1978, when lead stopped being used in paint, and where children younger than six live.
It also calls for mandatory testing of blood-lead levels in 1- and 2-year-olds beginning next year.