(a)  The department shall make available to the public upon request, information about contracting for the removal of mold in a building or surrounding environment, including all of the following:

(1)  Recommended steps to take when contracting with a company to remove mold.

(2)  Existing laws, regulations, and guidelines developed by the department, pertaining to permissible exposure limits to mold infestation, identification, and remediation.

(3)  Basic health information as contained in existing mold publications.

(b)  All mold remediation guidelines published by the department shall be reviewed at least once every five years and revised, as necessary based upon the availability of new scientific data.

(c)  (1)  The State Department of Health Services shall develop public education materials and resources to inform the public about the health effects of molds, methods to prevent, identify and remediate mold growth, resources to obtain information about molds, and contact information for individuals, organizations, or government entities to assist with public concerns about molds.

(2)  The department shall make its public education materials available to public health officers, environmental health officers, commercial and residential landlord organizations, homeowners’ organizations, and tenants’ organizations. These materials shall be readily available to the general public.

(3)  These materials shall be comprehensible to the general public.

(4)  These materials shall be produced to include other languages, in addition to English, to accommodate the diverse multicultural population of California.

(5)  These materials shall be made available on the department’s Internet Web site.

(Added by Stats. 2001, Ch. 584, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2002.)