Alabama Lead Paint Rules and Regulations; Where will this story end? Healthwise, lead based paint poisoning in humans causes irreversible brain damage and other physiological harm. The federal government has been campaigning and promulgating new rules and regulations to better protect the public against accidental lead poisoning for years. At the moment, the Evironmental Protection Agency has established an threshold enforement point in all pre-1978 homes and multi-family dwellings. My first inteligible indoctrination into the subject was during an education and certification campaign the Home Builder's Association sponsored to become certified as a Lead Paint Renovator before the enforcement of the new EPA protocals for Lead Paint handling became enforceable 2010. I attended an 8 hour course at the Alabama Home Builders Association's state headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama in April, 2010. Subsequent to the classroom training conducted by Accelerated Risk Management, the State of Alabama Department of Public Health, in conjunction with The University of Alabama Safe State Environmental Programs, has "opted in" to become an automomous enforcement agency specifically oriented towards lead paint protocal (regulatory requirements) in all pre-1978 homes and multi-family dwellings. The new state agency requires all trades involved in such environments to become officially trained and registered with Alabama's Renovator Contractor Certification. I recently attended the EPA Region 4 Lead Based paint Rules and Regulations Symposium on August 24, 2011, at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and had the pleasure to meet the authors of Rules of State Board of Health Bureau of Environmental Services, Division of Community Environmental Protection, Chaper 420-3-29, Renovation Contractor Certification, at the event. In attendance, was Ms. Andrea N. Lippett, Community Outreach Specialist, Lead Based Paint Program, and Sal Grey, Alabama Lead Certification Program Director. The panel's major goal for this forum was to make one final campaign to educate the construction trades (from painter to general contractor) that our governmental agencies were taking the health risks and enforecement of the new protocals deadly serious, and that the next campaign would focus on consumer/homeowner awareness. There were possibly some unattentional unorthodox messages conveyed during the forum that left me feeling uneasy about what the future would be like in the stricter regulatory environment. Some of which were solicitations of compliant (maybe) individuals reporting others that may not be compliant, threats of paperwork audits, and unannounced inspections. To me, the protocals are pretty simple. A professional renovator simply needs to attend the required training, register with the state, identify pre-1978 environments, apprise the owner/occupant of the process of handling positively tested lead paint presence, submit the pre-construction notification to the state, maintain and manage the construction area per the safe handling procedures, decontaminate the site, and maintain records for a minimum of 3 years. What happened subsequent to the meeting at the Botanical Gardens has left a number of professional remodeling and decorating contractors in a mild state of shock. I need to put some context to what I mean by a professional contractor and I will procede with my story. My impression of a typical professional contractor is one that is a licensed and insured individual/business, maintains general liability and worker's compensation insurance, is a member of their respective professional trade organization for continuing education and mentoring, applies and attains all appropriate building or remodeling permits, and strives to maintain a safe work environment and is courteous to others. Subsequent to the meeting at the Botanical Gardens, while apprising all of our subs about the new rules and how we were going to have to tighten up all of our operations, one sub told me about another painting and decorating contractor that had been visited by numerous health department and enforcement officers. The site visit seemed to be consistant to, and confirmed, what was conveyed to us at the Botanical Gardens. Little did I know what was coming my way only a day or two later. At about 10:00 AM, last Monday, I recieved a phone call from two of my assistants that a Lead Paint Enforcement Officer was on site on a project that we are punching out on and that there were a couple of things which we needed to address to come back into compliance. I immediately dropped what I was doing and met with the Environmental Supervisor on site for a few minutes. While my conversation with the Environmental Supervisor was pleasant and informative, the source of his attention to our jobsite was disturbing. Undoudtedly, someone had submitted a list of about 8-10 local remodeler's names, addresses, and photos of our jobsites in the old section of Mountain Brook, AL to the Health Department and that he was following up on the complaints. Customarily, a complaint comes from a neighbor when a dumpster becomes too full, or if our carpenters are disturbing them late in the afternoons. This wasn't a complaint. It was a flagrant display of someone (the guy that took pictures and turned the list in) that doesn't have anything better to do, to be lightly. This was like dropping a bomb on me, and I do wonder where this story will end. While the professional contractor serves his client's needs, tries to assemble a viable workforce in an unstable economy, pays taxes, fees, insurance, tries to navigate through unclear immigration laws, tries to maintain an OSHA compliant jobsite, is threatened by theft and vandalism, now becomes a target of discriminatory and vindictive reporting. Several of my peers were somewhat relieved to several waivers to the pre-1978 Lead Based Paint protocals that made the whole process a little more practical. These waivers allowed us to forego a number of reporting procedures when our jobsites were unoccupied, or even when the owner's consciously opted out of the process as a whole. At present, these waivers have been revoked, or were never approved, and it is, what it is. In my opinion, The EPA Region 4 Lead Based Paint Rules and Regulations Symposium on August 24, 2011, and subsequent site visit have been informative, and if a professioanal contractor is to remain a viable operator, they need to get on board and take the high road. The silver lining to it all will be producing a healthier environment for our workers and the owner/occupant; I just hope that our government officials are fair to the professionals that are attempting to be compliant, and not create anymore of a "police state" than is necessary.