In other lead-related news Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pocket-vetoed a bill to send $10 million to the state’s Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund, a fund designed to pursue lead abatement in homes painted with lead and also to assist in relocation and other services for people affected by lead. The bill sailed through both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature but was defeated by Christie’s decision to “pocket” the bill, or offer no signature for veto or approval.
The $10 million requested by the bill comes from a lead paint tax instituted specifically to be allocated to the fund. However, yearly tax revenues have been diverted to the general state budget every year since 2004, and Christie’s administration has never allocated the funds to the lead abatement program. New Brunswick Today reports:
Governor Christie had until noon on January 19 to sign or veto S-1279, which would appropriate $10 million to the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund. Because the bill was from a prior legislative session, and Christie took no action, the "pocket veto" effectively killed the bill.
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The Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund was formed in 2004 under Governor James McGreevey, with the intent of providing a loan and grant program to remove lead paint from homes and apartments.
The program was also supposed to provide relocation of children from dwellings with high levels of lead, as well as educaton and community outreach on lead poisoning.
It mandated that the fund receive between $7 million and $14 million annually through taxes on the sale of paint and surface coatings. Specifically, 50 cents would have been allocated to the fund for every can of paint and surface coating sold.
As we are currently seeing in Flint, this kind of passing the buck is just delaying a crisis. Instead of acting to move as aggressively as possible to get out from under the legacy of lead, Christie is choosing the easier path and continuing to place the social costs of lead on the least visible members of his constituency.