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Measure Backed By Companies Would Shift Lead Paint Bill To Taxpayers

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) — California voters will see an initiative on the November ballot that limits the liability of lead paint companies by authorizing bond funding to clean up the paint and other health hazards in buildings in the state.

The California Secretary of State announced Tuesday that backers of the measure collected enough signatures to make the ballot.

A year after buying their Fairfield home, Brandy and Joseph Glazier brought their youngest son to the doctor for a routine checkup.

They found old lead-based paint in the home that was built in 1927 was contaminating the house.

"They called me and said he had elevated levels of lead. We were like, 'What do you mean? Like, how is that possible?'" Brandy said. "Well, the window sill tested positive for lead paint and he's just sitting there watching for Daddy and got sick."

Mary Alexander is one of the attorneys who filed suit in 2000, claiming lead paint companies knew their paints were dangerous, something which Sherwin Williams and Conagra deny.

"Every 5-year-old knows that if you make a mess, you should clean it up. They need to clean up their mess," she said.

An appeals court ordered the companies pay the cost of fixing homes with lead paint hazards built before 1951.

"To get out of this responsibility, they have filed an initiative, and they collected signatures for November," Alexander said.

The companies are backing California's Healthy Homes and School Bond Act. the initiative would order the rehabilitation of homes and schools with potential health risks, including lead paint.

The price tag? $4 billion for taxpayers, and the paint companies would be excused from liability.

The companies said the ballot measure would impact the companies, but it would also protect millions of homeowners who could be faced with a public nuisance label on their home.

Alexander isn't buying it.

"The paint companies are fear mongering and trying to scare homeowners," she said.

Brandy and Joseph repainted their home. Andrew, now 4 years old, has shown no signs of lead poisoning so far, but his parents are still worried.

"They said that they don't know what the lead can actually do to him, or if he's going to have effects," Joseph said. "They have no idea."

Lead poisoning can caught

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