Three nonprofit groups filed a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Health on Thursday, arguing that the state's newly finalized lead paint inspection rules leave dangerous gaps that put children at continued risk of poisoning. The petitioners say the regulations let landlords skip inspecting windows and doors for lead dust, exclude porches from scrutiny, rely on outdated soil contamination thresholds, and even allow property owners to simply repaint over lead hazards in units where children have already been poisoned.
The Article 78 petition was filed in Albany County Supreme Court by Earthjustice on behalf of AVillage, Inc., WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, according to Earthjustice. The lawsuit names the Department of Health and Commissioner James V. McDonald as respondents. As Spectrum News reports, the petitioners say the rules simply do not satisfy the requirements of the underlying state law.
What the Rules Are Supposed to Do
At issue are regulations finalized in Title 10 NYCRR Subparts 67-2 and 67-5, published in the State Register in April to implement New York's 2023 Proactive Lead Inspection Law, per Earthjustice's petition. Public Health Law Section 1377 mandated proactive lead inspections and certification for pre-1980 rental properties, and the underlying registry law itself took effect last November. According to the state, the Lead Rental Registry program is meant to inspect, certify and track pre-1980 rental homes for peeling and chipping lead-based paint.
The registry applies to residential rental properties built before 1980 with two or more units, located in 25 designated communities of concern across the state — including Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Utica, Yonkers and Schenectady. Landlords in those zip codes must register units in the state's Lead Safe NY system and obtain certifications every three years. To help owners cover the cost of repairs, the 2023-24 state budget established a recurring $20 million annual allocation for lead hazard remediation, administered through the NYS Homes and Community Renewal Housing Trust Fund Corporation, per Housing Providers of New York State.
Constitutional Argument at the Core
Petitioners contend the regulations violate Article I, Section 19 of the New York State Constitution — the “Green Amendment” voters approved in 2021 by a margin of more than two to one, establishing a constitutional right to clean air, clean water and a healthful environment. That constitutional claim is central to the case, giving the groups a legal hook beyond simply arguing the Department of Health misread its own statute.
Per Spectrum News's reporting on the filing, the lawsuit says the acceptable lead-in-paint threshold set by the state is too high, and that soil inspections can be skipped whenever snow is on the ground — a seasonal loophole petitioners argue undermines the law's intent. The regulations also allow property owners to paint over lead paint instead of removing it, rather than requiring full remediation.
A Crisis Rooted in Old Housing
The stakes are magnified by New York's housing stock, among the oldest in the country. Roughly 78% of the state's residential units were built before the 1978 federal ban on residential lead-based paint, according to the Children's Defense Fund - New York. Peeling paint and lead-contaminated dust in those older buildings remain the primary cause of elevated blood lead levels in young children, the group notes.
New York has more known cases of children with elevated blood lead levels than any other state. More than 28,000 children born in 2019 — 12% of that year's births — tested positive for blood lead levels above 2 micrograms per deciliter, per the same Children's Defense Fund analysis, which projects a $6.4 billion lifetime economic cost tied to that single birth year's lead exposure.
Part of a Broader Enforcement Fight
This isn't the only recent legal battle over lead inspection enforcement in the state. In April, housing advocates argued an appeal in the Appellate Division seeking to compel the City of Buffalo to enforce its 2020 Proactive Rental Inspections Law, after officials failed to conduct mandatory lead hazard checks, according to the Partnership for the Public Good. That appeal was brought by four Buffalo community organizations and residents living in substandard housing.
Separately, Hoodline reported this week that a Bronx family sued the New York City Department of Education after a 5-year-old nonverbal autistic child suffered severe lead poisoning requiring chelation therapy in a special-education classroom that had gone uninspected since 2019. Health officials cited that classroom for 16 lead-paint violations after tests found deteriorating paint exceeding legal action levels, illustrating how inspection gaps are surfacing in both rental housing and public facilities across the state.
Spectrum News says it has contacted the New York State Department of Health for comment on the lawsuit. It remains unclear how the agency will respond to the petitioners' claims or whether it will move to amend the contested regulations.
