§ 23-24.5-19. Asbestos abatement fund. (a) There is established within the department of administration an asbestos and dangerous product abatement fund. The purpose of this fund shall be:

(1) To provide funds for the purchase or lease of testing and removal equipment by the department;

(2) To provide grants and low interest loans to qualified persons and entities for the implementation of asbestos abatement plans and abatement of other products found to be a danger to the public health by the director; and

(3) To reimburse the department of health for the training of competent persons, public maintenance personnel, and teacher and parent representatives.

(b) The director of administration or his or her designee may provide grants on the following terms and conditions:

(1) The director of health has found that the asbestos condition which is the subject matter of the grant involves a potential danger to the public health and that the disbursal of loans and grants is in accord with a ranking of buildings provided by the director of health with more dangerous hazards ranked first;

(2) The recipient of the grant is either a nonprofit or a public agency in a high priority group or a public agency in the intermediate group;

(3) No more than eighty percent (80%) of the costs of the abatement plan will be paid for by a grant;

(4) Only licensed or registered contractors shall be utilized. Contractors shall have been selected by bid procedures approved by the director of administration or his or her designee, and the rates of pay and costs of materials utilized by the contractor shall not exceed amounts and rates set by the director of administration;

(5) The recipient of the grant or loan shall assign to the director of administration all right, title, and interest to any claim related to asbestos at that site and authorize the director of administration as attorney-in-fact to litigate and bring any cause of action for the recovery of the costs of abatement that may lie against any other person or entity responsible for the creation of the problem being abated; and

(6) Any rules, criteria, formulas, or methodologies used in the computation of the amounts or percentages of assistance for which any schools (grades pre-kindergarten to twelve (12)) are eligible under this chapter shall be applied uniformly to, and without distinction between or among, all public, private, and parochial schools (grades pre-kindergarten to twelve (12)) located within the geographic boundaries of the same school district.

(c) The director of administration may provide loans at an annual interest rate not to exceed six percent (6%) to any person or entity, including local agencies, state agencies, and nonprofit agencies owning structures in the high or public intermediate priority groups on the conditions set forth in subsection (b) except that the loan may be for one hundred percent (100%) of its cost and on the further condition that adequate security for the repayment of the loan is provided and that the term of repayment does not exceed twenty (20) years.

(d) With the approval of the governor, the director of administration may contract with another public agency or with any licensed financial institution to administer grants and loans provided by this section. For its service, the financial institution or public agency may charge the borrower an administration fee not to exceed an additional one-half percent (1/2%) of the grant or loan amount.

(e) Not more than one million dollars ($1,000,000) of the proceeds of the bonds authorized in § 23-24.5-20 shall be utilized for hazardous substances other than asbestos.

(f) Not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) shall be used for outreach programs and educational materials to provide information to the public on the state's asbestos abatement program.

(g) The director of administration is authorized to issue any rules and regulations as are necessary to implement this section.

History of Section. (P.L. 1985, ch. 366, § 1; P.L. 1987, ch. 552, § 1.)