Expect an announcement any day now from the Environmental Protection Agency declaring that individuals who were among the first to abide by the federal government's lead-paint rule will get an extra year before they need to get recertified. The agency's final rule on the issue, issued April 8 for eventual publication in the Federal Register, means that renovators certified under the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule on or before March 31, 2010, now have until March 31, 2016 to get renew that certification. In addition, renovators with RRP certificates issued between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011, will have one year added to their current five-year certification.
The changes apply only to renovators affected by EPA's renovation program. Fourteen states have their own programs and thus set their own rules: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Click here for links to each state's program.)
Why do this? Basically, EPA decreed the one-year delay because it won't be able to make a key change in the renewal program before the first renovators' certifications expire this summer. Read more
