(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that would require schools to cover the costs of testing and mitigation for high levels of radon.
The Illinois Senate Education Committee passed an amended version of Senate Bill 2438 last week. The measure was then assigned to the Rules Committee along with a companion measure, House Bill 3691.
The legislation would require schools to test for radon by Jan. 1, 2029, and then re-test every five years.
State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, noted that SB 2438 provides no appropriations for testing or mitigation.
“This is an unbelievable unfunded mandate on every school across the state,” DeWitte said.
Republicans in the legislature have for years criticized majority Democrats for passing unfunded mandates on schools.
State Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, sponsored SB 2438. Ellman admitted the cost of radon testing for school buildings could be in the tens of thousands of dollars, but she said medical costs to deal with radon exposure would also be high.
“These costs don’t go away by not testing and not mitigating. In my view, these costs in the $10,000 range could be something that many, many school districts across the state could probably put into their budgets,” Ellman said.
Dan Potter, a member of the board of directors and executive committee for the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists, said schools could save money with a free training class from the state.
“Even large schools can be tested for out-of-pocket costs of small hundreds of dollars every five years, and so the only real significant cost becomes, if you test high for radon, then you want professional testers to verify it and then do the mitigation,” Potter said.
Radon levels above 4 picocuries per liter would require mitigation.
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The Senate Education Committee advanced SB 2438 by a vote of 10 to 4.
Ellman promised to continue working on the legislation.