law26045

Chapter 045

2026 -- S 2885
Enacted 06/10/2026

A N A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- ASBESTOS ABATEMENT

Introduced By: Senators Famiglietti, Thompson, Patalano, Dimitri, and Appollonio

Date Introduced: March 04, 2026

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections 23-24.5-2, 23-24.5-5, 23-24.5-6, 23-24.5-8, 23-24.5-12, 23-24.5-13,

23-24.5-14 and 23-24.5-25 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-24.5 entitled "Asbestos Abatement"

are hereby amended to read as follows:

23-24.5-2. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter:

(1) “Abatement” means the repair, enclosure, encapsulation, or removal of friable asbestos

in significant quantities as determined by the director by regulation. The term shall not apply to

those spot repairs of limited areas of asbestos as determined by the director or his or her designee

through regulation to be of low risk exposure.

(2) “Abatement process” means the series of events leading to the abatement of a friable

asbestos hazard. The process includes the inspection, identification, and ranking of the hazard, the

drawing of abatement plans, the monitoring of the abatement, the eventual clean-up, and the

issuance of a reoccupancy permit.

(3) “Action criteria” refers to the asbestos assessment factors detailed in the Decision

Protocol, Appendix D, of The New Jersey Asbestos Policy Commission’s Report to the Governor,

March 1985, except that the criteria shall not include air sampling standards contained in that report.

(4) “Asbestiform materials” means those naturally occurring fibers of similar shape, size,

strength, surface, and characteristics of asbestos fibers as are otherwise described in the publication

entitled “Non-Occupational Health Risks of Asbestiform Fibers”, Committee on Non-Occupational

Health Risks of Asbestiform Fibers, Board on Toxicology and Health Hazards of the Commission

on Life Science of the National Research Council; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1984, E.P.A. 68-01-

4655.

(5) “Asbestos” means that unique group of naturally occurring minerals that separate into

fibers of high tensile strength, resistant to heat, wear, and chemicals, described as the following

types: chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite, and every product

containing any of these minerals that have been chemically treated and/or altered which, after

manufacture, are used for these products and end uses as insulation, textiles, paper, cement sheets,

floor tile, wall covering, decorations, coating, sealants, cement pipe, and reinforced plastics and

other compounds.

(6) “Asbestos containing material (ACM)” means any material or product which contains

more than one percent (1%) asbestos.

(7) “Asbestos contractor” means any person or entity engaged in asbestos abatement as a

business. Each employee of any entity directly engaged or intending to engage directly in abatement

as a business shall be considered a contractor for the purposes of training and licensure

requirements of this title.

(8) “Competent person” means a public or private employee designated, trained, and

certified to conduct basic asbestos inspection and abatement process evaluation within the

jurisdiction of the agency, municipality, or building(s) in which the person is employed.

(9) “Department” means the state department of health.

(10) “Director” means the director of health.

(11) “Friable” means that condition of crumbled, pulverized, powdered, crushed, or

exposed asbestiform or asbestos fibers which are capable of being released into the air by hand

pressure.

(12) “Friable asbestos material” means:

(i) Asbestos containing material (ACM) that, when dry, can be crumbled, pulverized or

reduced to power by hand pressure; or

(ii) Non-friable ACM, including but not limited to regulated asbestos containing material

(RACM) as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to 40 CFR 61, Subpart

M, that will be or has been subjected to sanding, grinding, cutting, and abrading; or by the forces

expected to act on the ACM during renovation and/or demolition activities.

(13) “High priority group building” refers to those public or private buildings or portions

of these that are child inhabited or child frequented structures and shall include, but not be limited

to: public and parochial schools (grades pre-K to 12), day care centers, nurseries, acute or chronic

children’s hospitals or wardrooms of these as defined by the state building code use groups (I-2).

Private residences used for these purposes and housing occupied by ten (10) children or less are

excluded from this group.

(14) “Intermediate priority group building” refers to those public or private buildings or

portions of these other than those in the high and low priority groups which are designated within

the state building code use groups as follows: places of public assembly (group A); buildings

occupied by adult inmates (group I-3), hospital patients (group I-2), or institutional care facility

clients (group I-1); and auditoriums (group A). “Intermediate priority group buildings” also

includes those buildings which are: colleges (ordinarily group B); banks (group B); and other

business, industrial, educational, and mercantile buildings (groups B, E, F, H and M) including, but

not limited to, hotels and motels (group R-1), multifamily dwellings (group R-2), and places of

employment with more than ten (10) employees.

(15) “Low priority group building” refers to public or private buildings or portions of them

not in the other groups which are infrequently used (group U), closed, abandoned, or scheduled for

abandonment in the immediate future and those buildings which are private residences (groups R-

3 and R-4).

(16) “Owner” means the person or entity having legal title to property and/or buildings; the

term includes owners and consignees of asbestos material to be sold, installed, fabricated, or

manufactured in Rhode Island. For purposes of publicly owned property only, the owner is defined

as the chief executive officer of the state agency or municipal agency which owns, leases, or

controls the use of the property.

(17) “Private building” refers to any structure open to the public which is not a public

building, and includes but is not limited to: private schools, nurseries, colleges, hospitals,

warehouses, banks, retail stores, automobile repair shops, and places of employment.

(18) “Private residence” refers to any building with either one or two (2) separate dwelling

units used solely as a private domicile of a person or persons where those persons normally sleep,

eat, and maintain living quarters and which is designated within the state building code use group

R-4.

(19) “Public building” refers to any structure owned, managed, leased, furnished, or

occupied by a state or municipal agency, commission, or public school.

(20) “Regulated asbestos containing material (RACM)” as defined by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to 40 CFR 61, Subpart M, means:

(i) Friable asbestos material;

(ii) Category I non-friable ACM (packings, gaskets, resilient floor covering, and asphalt

roofing products) that has become friable;

(iii) Category I non-friable ACM that will be or has been subjected to sanding, grinding,

cutting, or abrading; or

(iv) Category II non-friable ACM (excluding category I non-friable ACM) that has a high

probability of becoming or has become crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by the forces

expected to act on the material in the course of demolition or renovation operations.

(21) “State building code” refers to chapter 27.3 of this title.

(22) “State inspector” means a person trained in industrial hygiene who is either a state

employee or a designee of the health department whose duty, among others, is to conduct state

asbestos inspections.

23-24.5-5. Asbestos exposure standards.

(a) No owner of a structure with friable asbestos or with friable asbestiform materials or

any person or entity owning or controlling asbestos or asbestiform products in a friable state shall

allow any person to be exposed to asbestos or asbestiform materials in a friable condition when the

exposed condition is a violation of a provision this chapter, of a regulation issued pursuant to the

authority of this chapter, or of an abatement plan approved by the director.

(b) Prior to the effective date of an air exposure standard established by the director, the

indoor non-occupational air exposure standard for asbestos exposure shall be 0.01 fibers longer

than five (5) micro meters per cubic centimeter (f/cc) (or three hundred (300) nanograms per cubic

meter) as measured by OSHA-NIOSH phase-contrast optical microscopic methods and calculated

as an eight (8) hour time weighted average.

(1) To limit the sale and use of asbestos and asbestiform materials which the director deems

to be a potential danger to the public health;

(2) To establish indoor environmental non-occupational air exposure standards, stated as a

given number of fibers per cubic centimeter (f/cc) and calculated as an eight (8) hour time weighted

average;

(3) To establish asbestos inspection and evaluation criteria;

(4) To establish criteria including air monitoring useful in ranking the severity of the

asbestos problem in a particular building in order to determine the need by the owner for the

submission of an abatement plan to the director;

(5) To establish criteria for the submission of an abatement plan by the owner of a public

building or a building in the high and intermediate priority groups;

(6) To establish public occupancy standards for buildings containing friable asbestos;

(7) To establish criteria for the registration, licensure, and certification of persons involved

in asbestos abatement; and

(8) To develop educational material informing persons of asbestos hazards in their

residences.

(d) In acting on issuing the regulations pursuant to subsection (c), the director shall take

into consideration the following guidelines:

(1) The director shall give due consideration to uniform rules and definitions with those of

other states and the United States without endangering the public health and without lessening

standards established by this chapter;

(2) Except for their asbestos air exposure standards, the director shall give due

consideration to the standards contained in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents,

Asbestos Containing Materials in School Buildings, a Guidance Document, Part 2 (Sawyer, R.M.,

Spooner, D.M.) and EPA Report no. 560/5-83-002, Guidance for Controlling Friable Asbestos

Containing Materials in Buildings; and the New Jersey Asbestos Policy Commission’s Report to

the Governor, March 1985;

(3) The director shall seek to minimize the risk of possible injury or death from the use

and/or sale of asbestos or asbestiform materials as that risk is weighted against commercial

necessity and practicality in considering whether or not to ban or limit the future use and/or sale of

these materials;

(4) Indoor environmental non-occupational air exposure standards established shall only

allow human exposure to friable asbestos at a level lower than or equal to the standard established

by this chapter.

(e) The director shall issue regulations regarding asbestos exposure and abatement.

23-24.5-6. Asbestos abatement plans.

(a) The owner of any public or private building containing friable asbestos material in

violation of this chapter, who shall within one hundred twenty (120) days of notice of the violation,

file an abatement plan with the director shall be relieved of liability for the violation during the

abatement process. For buildings in the high and immediate priority group found by the director or

the director’s agents to require abatement after inspection, the director shall notify in writing in the

case of public buildings the appropriate public agency or elected, appointed, or employed official

with jurisdiction over the building; or in the case of a private building the owner or manager of the

building.

(b)(1) That person or agency shall within one hundred twenty (120) days of the notice file

an asbestos abatement plan with the director. This plan shall describe in detail the results of any

asbestos detection tests performed, a blueprint of the structure involved and a program designed to:

(i) Monitor the physical conditions of asbestos containing materials,

(ii) Educate the building staff and occupants regarding the presence of asbestos,

(iii) Minimize the likelihood of fiber release, and

(iv) Minimize the potential of human exposure to asbestos.

(2) The plan should include a description of the remedies proposed, including but not

limited to repair, enclosure or encapsulation, and/or removal, the process of selection and criteria

for hiring licensed contractors, a time schedule for completion, disposal location, and the level of

compliance with exposure and action criteria expected to be achieved.

(3) The requirement for filing an asbestos abatement plan with the director prior to the

removal of any friable asbestos material shall be waived whenever a public building, private

building, or residence has been ordered demolished by a municipal building official in accordance

with § 23-27.3-125.5; provided that all friable asbestos material is removed from the building prior

to demolition by a licensed asbestos contractor following an asbestos abatement plan previously

approved by the director specifically for the demolition of unsafe structures. The director may

require the filing of any documentation deemed necessary to insure that compliance with the act

has been met.

amend, or reject the plan of abatement.

(d) The director shall issue regulations establishing criteria for the inspection of buildings,

identification and evaluation of asbestos hazard, the ranking of asbestos abatement, and the

development of abatement plans.

(e) The owner of any building failing to comply with an order of abatement issued by the

director after hearing shall be fined by the director an amount not exceeding two thousand five

hundred dollars ($2,500) a day and/or having the area in violation subject to closure. No fine shall

apply if access to the area is limited to individuals designated as competent persons for the area or

certified as consultants in accordance with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the

authority conferred by this chapter.

(f) The director may assess fees for review of asbestos abatement plans submitted in

accordance with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this

section, provided that those fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance with chapter 35

of title 42 have been followed.

(g) Any approval of an asbestos abatement plan issued in accordance with rules or

regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section shall become invalid

unless the work authorized by that approval shall have been commenced within six (6) expire

twelve (12) months after its issuance; provided that, for cause, an extension of time for a period not

exceeding ninety (90) days has not been granted. All extensions must be in writing and signed by

the director or his or her designee. For the purposes of this section, any approval issued shall not

be considered invalid if the suspension or abandonment is due to a court order prohibiting that work

as authorized by that approval.

(h) Notwithstanding any approval issued by the director in accordance with rules or

regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section, all abatement activity

performed in conjunction with an approved asbestos abatement plan must be in compliance with

the most current revision of all applicable federal, state, and local regulations, unless that approval

already requires compliance with a more restrictive standard.

(i) The director may revoke any approval issued in accordance with rules or regulations

promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section in the event that the granting of the

approval was based upon statements which prove to be false or based on misrepresentation of fact.

Any aggrieved party shall have the right to a hearing on this revocation. The request for a hearing

shall be in writing and shall be made within ten (10) days of the decision.

(j) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b)(1)(iv), all renovation and/or demolition

activities involving asbestos containing material (ACM) shall be assumed to produce friable ACM

and shall require department approval of an asbestos abatement plan prior to undertaking this

renovation and/or demolition activity.

23-24.5-8. Posting and labeling.

(a) On any building accessible to the public where there is friable asbestos either in

violation of the air sample exposure standard or action criteria standard as determined by the

director or where there is demolition or repair of asbestos material taking place or abatement

process underway a warning sign issued in conformance to standards issued by the director shall

be posted at all entrances and conspicuous places.

(b) The director is further authorized to issue regulations requiring the posting of warnings

in public buildings where there may be a public health danger of exposure to friable asbestos and

for the marking of asbestos material in public buildings.

nonconforming building is located a notice of violation of any structure that is not in compliance

with an order of the director regarding asbestos abatement in the same manner as is provided for

housing code violations in the general laws.

23-24.5-12. Licensure of asbestos contractors.

(a) No person or entity shall undertake an asbestos abatement project or dispose of friable

asbestos materials in or from any building or demolition of any portion of a structure containing

friable asbestos or asbestiform material unless the director has licensed that person or entity as

qualified for those purposes. Any building owner who causes an asbestos abatement project or

disposal of friable asbestos materials to be undertaken in violation of either this section or any rules

or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section shall also be subject

to the enforcement provisions of this section.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law or regulation, no building permit or demolition permit

involving asbestos abatement shall be issued by any municipal or state official unless the

application for the permit includes a certified copy of an approved abatement plan and a certified

copy of the license of the asbestos contractor who shall undertake the work.

licensed by the director and its asbestos abatement plan is approved by the director.

(d) The director shall establish procedures and issue regulations for the licensure of

asbestos contractors and their supervisors and for the training of the employers of asbestos

employees. The director is authorized to establish procedures and regulations for the licensure of

asbestos workers. The director may assess fees for asbestos worker licenses issued in accordance

with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section, provided

that those fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 have

been followed.

(e) The director shall in establishing licensure criteria for asbestos contractors, consider the

following factors:

(1) The contractor’s experience,

(2) Financial qualifications to abate asbestos properly,

(3) A company’s history of safe and proper abatement,

(4) A history of compliance with department regulations, and

(5) Proof of completion of training programs approved by the director.

(f) Each person licensed by the director shall be issued by the director a photograph

identification card containing the license which that person must keep in his or her possession at

each work site.

(g) The director may assess fees for asbestos contractor and site supervisory personnel

licenses issued in accordance with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority

conferred by this section, provided that such fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance

with chapter 35 of title 42 have been followed.

(h) For cause and for violation of the regulations of the director, the director or his or her

designee may suspend or revoke a license issued pursuant to this section.

(i) The director shall maintain a public list of licensed contractors and shall annually

publish that list in a state newspaper of general circulation on the department's website.

23-24.5-13. Competent persons.

(a) The “owner” (or supervisor) of a publicly owned building or administrator of a group

of public buildings or the owner of a private building, excluding a private residence, shall appoint

from his or her employees sufficient persons to become competent in the basic aspects of asbestos

inspection and abatement to fulfill the responsibilities of this section within an eighteen (18) month

period.

(b) The “competent person” shall have, but not be limited to, the following responsibilities:

(1) To make periodic visual inspection of known or presumed asbestos containing areas;

(2) To review past maintenance records;

(3) To work with the department of health to ascertain and identify asbestos hazards;

(4) To maintain records of inspections;

(5) To join with the contractor in working up the specifications of abatement projects;

(6) To make periodic inspection of abatement procedures and have the right to call in a

state inspector if, in the view of the competent person, any provision of this chapter is being

violated;

(7) To alert building occupants and maintenance staff of ongoing abatement project; and

(8) To review outside contracting work if that work shall affect enclosed or encapsulated

asbestos materials.

become certified as a “competent person.”

(d) This parent or teacher representative may accompany “competent persons” in their

inspection and have full access to their records regarding asbestos.

23-24.5-14. Training, curricula, and certification.

(a)(1) The director shall establish procedures and regulations for the following procedures:

(i) For the licensure or certification of a competent person, of designated public

maintenance employees, of designated teacher and parent representatives, of laboratories

performing analysis of asbestos in air or building materials, and of private consultants or inspectors;

(ii) Establish standards and specifications for training courses based upon, but not limited

to, those included in this chapter and to certify that training;

(iii) To train directly or by contract maintenance personnel or competent persons;

(iv) To certify and train designated public maintenance personnel and workers in the

private sector, including but not limited to electricians, contractors, plumbers, in safe techniques of

spot asbestos repair.

(2) Each trained and certified licensed person shall be issued an “asbestos certified” photo

identity card, and only those carded persons shall be permitted to do spot repairs on asbestos in the

buildings of their jurisdiction. Any person certified licensed for spot repair but not as an asbestos

“contractor” shall not undertake any asbestos abatement project larger than the size limits of a spot

repair as defined by the director and shall follow all safe work practices for spot repair work as

required by the director. Those employees in violation of these provisions and/or their employer

shall be subject to a fine of no more than five hundred dollars ($500) per violation.

(b) As a guideline for approval of a certified training program for asbestos contractors

abatement, the director shall give due consideration to a course of a minimum of thirty-two (32)

hours of instruction covering the following topics:

(1) The nature of asbestos hazards and a review of improper abatement procedures such as

dry removal, lack of protective barriers, and poor respirator fit problems;

(2) The medical effects of asbestos exposure, the mechanics of human respiration, the

nature of asbestos disease conditions, their diagnosis and evaluation, and medical asbestos

surveillance methods in exposed populations;

(3) Federal and state asbestos regulations including OSHA and EPA regulations, Right-to-

Know laws, and this chapter;

(4) Current protection standards, including the role of respirators, appropriate

housekeeping procedures, appropriate hygiene, the synergism effects of asbestos with smoking,

and the importance of decontamination procedures;

(5) The proper preparation of the work area including, but not limited to, the proper repair

and removal abatement techniques, sealing and isolation methods in the work environment, the use

of negative pressure air filtration barriers, the avoidance of power tools, the need for wetting down

of asbestos materials, bagging and labeling of asbestos materials, proper waste storage, and removal

of material;

(6) Identifying asbestos containing materials, study of decision protocol for evaluation and

prioritizing of abatement, air sampling and other monitoring techniques, negative air pressure

filtration system and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter systems.

rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section, provided that

those fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 have been

followed.

(d) Notwithstanding the requirements contained in subsections (a) and (b) of this section,

the director may also establish procedures or regulations for reciprocal recognition of training

courses and/or certification programs for asbestos contractors, site supervisory personnel and/or

asbestos abatement workers. The director may assess fees for reciprocal recognition of training

courses and/or certification programs for asbestos contractors, site supervisory personnel and/or

asbestos abatement workers issued in accordance with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant

to the authority conferred by this section, provided that these fees are assessed only after procedures

in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 have been followed.

23-24.5-25. Misrepresentation of asbestos licensure or certification.

(a) No person or entity shall make oral or written representations of licensure as an asbestos

contractor or asbestos abatement site supervisor or asbestos abatement worker unless they possess

a currently valid license for the activity which has been issued by the director pursuant to either §

23-24.5-12 or any rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this

chapter.

(b) No person or entity shall make oral or written representation of licensure or certification

as an asbestos analytical laboratory, asbestos consultant or asbestos abatement project monitor

unless they possess a currently valid license or certificate for the activity which has been issued by

the director pursuant to either §§ 23-24.5-6(j) or 23-24.5-14(a) or any rules or regulations

promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this chapter.

14(a) or any rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this chapter

shall make oral or written representations of licensure or certification to perform any service which

is not specifically identified on their currently valid license or certificate.

SECTION 2. Sections 23-61-5 and 23-61-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-61 entitled

"Radon Control" are hereby amended to read as follows:

23-61-5. Licensing and certification.

(a) All persons providing or offering to provide the following services must be certified or

licensed in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to the authority conferred by this chapter:

(1) Screening sampling/testing of air for radon/radon progeny;

(2) Diagnostic sampling/testing of air for radon/radon progeny;

(3) Mitigation planning services for radon/radon progeny;

(4) Training courses offered for the purpose of meeting any of the licensing and/or

certification requirements mandated by this chapter.

(b) The director may assess fees for licenses and certifications issued in accordance with

regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section, provided that those

fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 have been followed.

The fees collected shall be deposited in a restricted receipt account as provided for under § 23-61-

8 of this chapter.

in:

(1) Screening sampling/testing of air for radon/radon progeny;

(2) Diagnostic sampling testing of air for radon/radon progeny;

(3) Mitigation planning services for radon/radon progeny; or

(4) Training courses offered for the purpose of meeting any of the licensing and/or

certification requirements mandated by this chapter:

(i) Without a license shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500) for each offense and shall

be ordered to forfeit all fees derived from such activity for the first offense and shall be fined one

thousand dollars ($1,000) for the second and each subsequent offense and shall be ordered to forfeit

all fees derived from such activity on the second and subsequent offenses. The attorney general is

authorized to pursue forfeiture actions against all violators and also to apply for and obtain

injunctive relief against continuing violations of this section.

(d) All fines and all fees that have been forfeited under this section shall be placed in the

state general fund.

(e) The requirements of this section shall not apply to: (a) those individuals testing or

mitigating a private residence owned or leased and occupied by the individual who is performing

the testing or mitigation; or (b) any individual testing their own living area.

23-61-6. Notification to the department.

The owner of For any public and high priority building, the licensed radon mitigation

contractor who intends to take measures, including but not limited to renovation of the building for

the purpose of reducing radon/radon progeny levels and/or installation of recognized radon

mitigation systems, must submit formal notification to the department prior to commencing the

radon/radon progeny mitigation activities.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC005348

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