Mold: Introduction for Insurance Agents
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Mold legislation

The Toxic Mold Protection Act, Senate Bill 732, authored by California State Senator Debra Ortiz (D-Sacramento), was the nation's first state-level effort to legislate mold exposure limits, mold mitigation efforts, and a mold complaints system. It went into effect as of January 1, 2002.

Terms of the Toxic Mold Protection Act
The Toxic Mold Protection Act:
  • Directs the Department of Health Services to:
  • Adopt permissible exposure limits for mold in indoor environments.
  • Adopt mold identification standards for the environmental assessment of molds in indoor environments.
  • Adopt mold remediation efforts.
  • Develop standards of education and certification for mold-testing professionals and mold remediation specialists. (The task force committee is currently at work developing these standards.)
  • Requires landlords and sellers of residential and commercial property to provide written disclosure to potential tenants or buyers, identifying the current presence or prior existence of mold and disclosing if it exceeds the permissible exposure limits.
  • Designates the Department of Industrial Relations to respond to mold complaints and grants the department responsibility to enforce standards in the workplace.
  • Amends the sub-standard housing code to include the presence of molds and allows code enforcement officers to effectively address concerns about molds.

    Other legislation
    As of mid-2003, at least 14 mold-related bills have been introduced in six states.

    Not surprisingly after the Ballard Case, Texas leads in the number of introductions with eight bills. They range from House Resolution 11, which asks Congress to pursue research to quantify health risks and develop uniform exposure guidelines for mold, to two bills, House Bill 329 and Senate Bill 243, which would regulate mold assessors and remediators. Two other bills, HB 747 and SB 127, relate to procedures that insurers would use for handling water damage claims.

    Connecticut is the only other state with multiple bills, both related to schools. HB 5638 requires the state Department of Public Health to study the presence of mold and fungi in public schools and develop a plan for testing and remediation. SB 173 allows the cost of fixing mold and other air quality problems to be eligible for reimbursement from the state school construction program.

    Other states with mold-related legislation include Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts and New York.

    Congressman John Conyers, Jr. introduced HR 5040, the United States Toxic Mold Safety and Protection Act, in June 2003, but it failed to pass out of committee. It is expected to be reintroduced at some point in the future.

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    Not only are policy forms, clauses, rules and court decisions constantly changing, but forms vary from company to company and state to state. This material is intended as a general guideline and might not apply to a specific situation. The authors, LunchTimeCE, Inc., CEfreedom, and Insurance Skills Center, and any organization for whom this course is administered will have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of information contained in this course.