What's happening
This bill expands lead testing requirements to include day care facilities, ensuring their potable water systems are monitored for lead contamination.
Why it matters
Addresses a major gap in child safety. by requiring licensed day care centers (outside NYC) to test their drinking water for lead, ensuring younger children—who are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure—are protected alongside school-age populations.
Mandates prompt notification and transparency. Parents and guardians must be notified in writing of test results, and day care facilities are required to post results and remediation plans publicly, enhancing accountability and informed decision-making for families.
Enables regulatory oversight and coordinated response. The bill requires the NYS Department of Health, Department of Education, and Office of Children and Family Services to jointly establish regulations, review results, and publish biennial reports, reinforcing systemic monitoring and policy evaluation.
Provides potential financial relief. for day care centers facing unreasonable costs associated with compliance, reducing the risk that lower-resourced facilities will avoid or delay important water safety measures due to budget constraints.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Test Day Care Water
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to health
- Reported and committed to finance
- Print number 842a
- Amend and recommit to health
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Test Day Care Water
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor Sean Ryan
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
842--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. MONTGOMERY, GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to expanding lead testing to day care facilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 1110 of the public health law, as added by chapter 296 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1110. School and day care potable water testing and standards. 1. For the purposes of this section, "day care facilities" shall mean a child day care center, licensed with the office of children and family services. The provisions of this section do not apply to child day care centers, group family day care homes, family day care homes, school-age child care programs and small day care centers that hold a permit issued by the New York City department of health and mental hygiene.
2. In addition to school districts already classified as a public water system under parts 141 and 142 of title 40 of the code of federal regulations, as such regulations may, from time to time, be amended, every school district [and], board of cooperative educational services, and day care facility shall conduct periodic first-drawn tap testing of potable water systems to monitor for lead contamination in each occupied school building under its jurisdiction as required by regulations promulgated pursuant to this section. The testing shall be conducted and the results analyzed by an entity or entities approved by the commissioner.
[2.] 3. Where a finding of lead contamination is made, the affected school district or day care facility shall: (a) continue first-drawn tap water testing pursuant to regulations promulgated pursuant to this section; (b) provide [school] occupants with an adequate supply of safe,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02948-02-9
S. 842--A 2
potable water for drinking as required by rules and regulations of the department until future tests indicate lead levels pursuant to regulations promulgated pursuant to this section; and (c) provide parents or persons in parental relation to a child attending said school or day care facility with written notification of test results as well as posting such test results on the school district's website.
[3.] 4. First-drawn tap testing shall not be required for school or day care facility buildings that have been deemed "lead-free" as defined by section 1417 of the federal safe drinking water act.
[4.] 5. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of education and the commissioner of children and family services, shall promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the regulations promulgated with regard to lead levels shall be consistent with the requirements for those school districts or day care facilities classified as a public water system under parts 141 and 142 of title 40 of the code of federal regulations as such regulations may, from time to time, be amended.
[5.] 6. The commissioner in consultation with the commissioner of children and family services, may grant a waiver from the testing requirements of this section for certain school buildings, provided that, the school district or day care facility has substantially complied with the testing requirements and has been found to be below lead levels as determined by regulations promulgated pursuant to this section for such buildings.
[6.] 7. Each school district [and], board of cooperative educational services, and day care facility conducting testing pursuant to subdivision one of this section and each school district classified as a public water system under parts 141 and 142 of title 40 of the code of federal regulations, as such regulations may, from time to time, be amended, shall make a copy of the results of all such testing and any lead remediation plans available to the public on its website and any additional means as chosen by such school district or day care facility. A copy of the results of all testing shall also be immediately transmitted to the department [and], state education department, and office of children and family services in a format to be determined by the commissioner and to the county department of health in the local jurisdiction of the school building. The commissioner of education and the commissioner of children and family services, in conjunction with the commissioner, shall publish a report biennially based on the findings from the tap water testing conducted according to the provisions of this section. Such report shall be sent to the commissioner, the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly and shall be made available on the department's [and], state education department's and office of children and family services' websites.
8. Subject to appropriation, the commissioner may provide financial assistance to assist day care facilities with compliance with this section when such compliance imposes an unreasonable financial hardship as determined by the commissioner on the day care facility and such day care facilities are not eligible for building aid under section nineteen fifty or thirty-six hundred two of the education law.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to expanding lead testing to day care facilities
Purpose or general idea of bill
Requires day care facilities to test their drinking water for lead contamination.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 expands the requirement that schools test drinking water for lead to include day care facilities. Day care facilities would include child day care centers, licensed with the Office of Children and Family Services.
The provisions of this section do not apply to child day care centers, group family day care homes, family day care homes, school-age childcare programs and small day care centers that hold a permit issued by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
As determined by the Commissioner, the Commissioner of Health may provide financial assistance to assist day care facilities with compli- ance with this section.
Justification
Chapter 296 of the Laws of 2016 requires all school districts to conduct periodic first-drawn tap testing of potable water systems to monitor for lead contamination in each occupied school building in the district. The Department of Health and State Education Department promulgated regu- lations detailing the requirements for this lead testing. The first round of testing that was completed in the fall of 2016 revealed that 140 of those schools that had reported results had drinking water with lead contamination above the safe limit set by the Department of Health.
According to the EPA, young children and infants are particularly vulnerable to lead in drinking water because the negative physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at a lower level in young children. Low levels of exposure to lead in children has been linked to damage to the central nervous system, behavioral and learning disabilities, growth irregUlarities, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and functioning of blood cells.
Lead contamination in drinking water often occurs in the plumbing mate- rials of buildings. While lead piping has been phased out since 1986, those facilities built before this time may have lead piping and are at a high risk of lead contamination in drinking water. New York City requires that day care facilities test for lead in drinking water.
OCFS currently requires child day care programs that use private water supplies to test for contaminants every 12 months, there is no require- ment that all daycare centers test for lead. Further, this testing only requires the testing of the private water supply itself and not the actual drinking water outlets. As lead contamination often occurs from the pipes within the building, the current testing may not reveal that
certain drinking water outlets are contaminating the drinking water with lead.
With the framework established by Chapter 296, this bill would require day care facilities licensed with the State to test for lead contam- ination in drinking water as set forth by the regulations promulgated by DOH for public school buildings. Since infants and young children are especially vulnerable to the negative health and developmental effects of lead, this testing must also be completed in day cares, where these children may spend a significant amount of time.
Fiscal implications
Minimal.
Effective date
180 days after it shall have become a law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.