OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 280 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 280’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. J. Thomas and Demetriou
Effective date:
Jeff Grim, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
Lead abatement regulations
 States that any county, township, or municipal corporation that requires a person to
obtain a certification that indicates that a property is safe from lead hazards for rental
registration must issue or deny that certification within 30 days of receiving a
certification application, but allows a person to reapply if denied.
 Provides for a temporary 10% or 20% reduction in local government funds (LGF) for a
county, township, or municipal corporation that repeatedly misses the 30-day deadline.
 Prior to a lead clearance examination, allows a clearance technician, lead inspector, or
lead risk assessor to conduct interim controls at a residential unit, child care facility, or
school, and allows those individuals to charge a fee for the performance of the interim
controls.
 Requires the Director of Health to adopt rules that specify a certification process for
authorizing the use of software in lead abatement and lead testing conducted by
persons and laboratories licensed by the Director of Health.
 Exempts any regulatory restrictions contained in the rules from regulatory restriction
reduction requirements in current law.
Lead abatement tax credit
 Changes the lead abatement tax credit from a nonrefundable to a refundable credit.
 Allows the right to apply for and receive a credit to be assigned to a lead abatement
specialist that completes a project.
 Allows pass-through entities to apply for and receive the credit, which is currently
limited to individual taxpayers in most circumstances.
October 16, 2023
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
 Increases the total credits that may be awarded each fiscal year by the amount of any
LGF penalty imposed under the bill.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Lead abatement regulation
Background
Under continuing law, when the Director of Health or an authorized board of health
becomes aware that a child under six years old has lead poisoning, the Director or board must
investigate to find the source of the lead poisoning. In conducting the investigation, the
Director or board may enter the residential unit, child care facility, or school (hereafter
building) that the Director or board reasonably suspects to be the source of the lead poisoning.
When the Director or board determines that a building is a possible source of the child’s lead
poisoning, the Director or board must conduct a risk assessment of that property.
If the results of a risk assessment indicate that one or more lead hazards identified in a
building are contributing to a child’s lead poisoning, the Director or authorized board
immediately must issue an order to have each lead hazard in the property controlled. The
Director or board may order occupants of a building to vacate the premises until the building
passes a clearance examination. The owner or manager of a building may choose the method of
controlling each lead hazard.
A building remains subject to a lead hazard control order until the building passes a
clearance examination. After the building passes the clearance examination, the Director or
board of health that issued the order must provide the owner and manager of the building with
information on methods of maintaining control of each lead hazard specified in the order. In
the case of a residential unit in which an individual who is not the owner or manager resides,
the Director or board also must provide the information to the individual residing in the unit.1 A
clearance examination is an examination to determine whether the lead hazards in a building
have been sufficiently controlled. A clearance examination includes a visual assessment,
collection, and analysis of environmental samples.2
Certification of lead safe property and LGF penalty
Under the bill, any county, township, or municipal corporation that requires a person to
obtain a certification that indicates that a property is safe from lead hazards for rental
registration must issue or deny that certification within 30 days after the receipt of an
application for the certification. Any person who is denied a certification may resubmit an
application for certification by resubmitting lead test results up to 180 days after certification
denial.
1 R.C. 3742.35 to 3742.38, not in the bill; R.C. 3742.39.
2 R.C. 3742.01(C).
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Repeated failure by a county, township, or municipal corporation to meet the 30-day
certification deadline may result in loss of some local government funds (LGF) the state would
otherwise pay to the local government. The bill applies an LGF penalty if a local government has
a lead certification requirement in place and the Tax Commissioner receives and verifies, in a
single fiscal year, at least 50 notices describing individual instances where the local government
missed the 30-day deadline. The penalty is 10% of the amount of LGF the local government
would otherwise receive monthly, and it applies until the last month of the fiscal year. If the
Commissioner receives at least 500 notices in a single fiscal year, the penalty doubles to 20% of
the local government’s LGF for the remainder of the year.
Any LGF payments withheld as a result of this penalty are to be deposited to the GRF.3
Interim controls of lead
The bill clarifies that, prior to a clearance examination (discussed above), a clearance
technician, lead inspector, or lead risk assessor may conduct interim controls in a building. The
bill then authorizes the clearance technician, lead inspector, or lead risk assessor to charge a
fee for the performance of interim controls.4
Under current law, interim controls are a set of measures designed to reduce
temporarily human exposure or likely human exposure to lead hazards. Interim controls include
specialized cleaning, repairs, painting, temporary containment, ongoing lead hazard
maintenance activities, and the establishment and operation of management and resident
education programs. A person who performs interim controls must perform those controls in
compliance with federal regulations.5
Lead abatement and testing software
The bill requires the Director of Health to adopt rules in accordance with the
Administrative Procedure Act that specify a certification process for authorizing the use of
software in lead abatement and lead testing conducted by persons and laboratories licensed by
the Director under the law governing lead abatement.6 The bill exempts the rules from
continuing law requirements concerning reductions in regulatory restrictions. Currently, the
Director must take actions to reduce regulatory restrictions, including, by June 30, 2025,
reducing the amount of regulatory restrictions contained in an inventory created in 2019 in
accordance with a statutory schedule. A regulatory restriction is any part of an administrative
rule that requires or prohibits an action.7
3 R.C. 3742.47 and 5747.504, with conforming changes in R.C. 5747.50, 5747.502, 5747.51, and 5747.53.
4 R.C. 3742.39(B).
5 R.C. 3742.01(J) and 3742.02(C)(8), not in the bill.
6 R.C. 3742.03(I).
7 R.C. 3742.03(I), by reference to R.C. 121.95 to 121.953, not in the bill.
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As Introduced
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Lead abatement tax credit
Continuing law authorizes an income tax credit for eligible lead abatement costs, i.e.,
those incurred to hire a lead abatement specialist to perform inspections and remediation of
certain residential property and related relocation costs. The maximum amount of credit that
may be claimed for the abatement of a single dwelling is $10,000. The bill makes several
modifications to this credit.
Refundable credit
The bill converts the credit to a refundable credit. Under current law, the credit is
nonrefundable and any unclaimed balance may be carried forward for seven years.8
Tax credits allow taxpayers to reduce their tax bills on a dollar-for-dollar basis, and they
may be refundable or nonrefundable. A nonrefundable credit can reduce a tax bill to zero, but
no further, though unused amounts may be carried forward and used in later years if
authorized by law. A refundable credit can also reduce a tax bill to zero, but if there is any
unused amount of the credit remaining, it is refunded to the taxpayer in cash. So, if a taxpayer
has a $50 tax liability and a $100 credit, the credit will reduce the liability to $0 whether it is
refundable or nonrefundable, but if it is refundable, the taxpayer will get an additional
$50 refund.
Assigning credits
Under current law, only the taxpayer that incurs lead abatement costs can apply for and
claim the credit. The bill allows lead abatement specialists who complete lead abatement
projects to apply for and claim the credit if the person who hires them assigns the right in
exchange for a discount on the project. The credit that may be assigned is the amount of the
discount provided in exchange for the assignment, up to $10,000. The person who hires the
specialist retains the right to apply for and claim a credit for any amount by which the discount
is less than $10,000. This ensures compliance with the $10,000 per-dwelling credit limit
discussed above.
Assignment of the right to claim a credit is a consumer transaction for purposes of the
state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. As a result, a lead abatement specialist who violates that
law when seeking or securing an assignment may face liability under the law, e.g., actual and
punitive damages or enforcement action by the Attorney General. And, a lead abatement
specialist applying for a credit on the basis of an assignment must include the customer’s
approval of the assignment with the application, state the amount of the lead abatement costs
charged, and the amount of the discount provided in exchange for the assignment.9
Claims by pass-through entities
The credit may be claimed only against the income tax. Under current law, the credit
can be claimed for eligible lead abatement costs paid by persons subject to that tax, i.e.,
8 R.C. 3742.50, 5747.26(B), and 5747.98.
9 R.C. 3742.50(B), (C), and (E).
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As Introduced
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individuals, trusts, and estates. As a practical result, current law essentially limits the credit lead
abatement costs paid by individual property owners.10
The bill adds lead abatement costs paid by a pass-through entity (PTE) to the costs the
credit may be claimed against. A PTE is an entity that is disregarded for income tax purposes, so
its tax liability passes through to its owners, who pay income tax based on their share of the
PTE’s income. Because a PTE does not directly pay the income tax, the bill also allows the right
to claim the credit to be passed through to the PTE’s owners.
The bill also allows a PTE that employs or is owned by a lead abatement specialist to
apply for credit it has been assigned (see “Assigning credits,” above). So, under the bill, if a
PTE, such as a limited liability company, incurs lead abatement costs on an eligible dwelling (see
“Eligible dwellings,” below), or employs or is owned by a lead abatement specialist and is
assigned the right to claim a credit, the entity’s direct or indirect investors may claim their
proportionate share of the credit.11
Eligible dwellings
The lead abatement tax credit applies to “residential units” constructed before 1978.
The bill specifically includes a single unit in a multi-unit building as a residential unit. Under
continuing law, a residential unit includes any dwelling or any part of a building being used as
an individual’s private residence, including residential rental units.12
Total-credit cap
Under current law, no more than $5 million of lead abatement tax credits may be
awarded per fiscal year. The bill increases the cap by the amount of any amounts withheld from
LGF under the bill’s new provisions (see “Certification of lead safe property and LGF
penalty,” above).13
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 09-26-23
ANHB0280IN-135/ks
10 R.C. 5747.01(N) and 5747.02, not in the bill.
11 R.C. 3742.50(A)(1) and (A)(3) and 5747.26(C), with conforming change in R.C. 5747.08.
12 R.C. 3742.01(DD), not in the bill, and R.C. 3742.50(A)(2) and (4).
13 R.C. 3742.50(C)(3).
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As Introduced


Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 3742.03, 3742.39, 3742.50, 5747.08, 5747.26, 5747.50, 5747.502, 5747.51, 5747.53, 5747.98