Utah Legislature: Meth reporting bill stalled in Senate

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill is winding its way through the Utah Legislature that would force landlords to disclose even trace amounts of methamphetamine contamination on their property to government agencies.

HB190, sponsored by Rep. Steven Mascaro, R-West Jordan, would make owners or lessors of real property with "actual knowledge" of contamination report the problem to the local health department or be subject to civil lawsuits.

"Anyone that has property that is putting it out there for public consumption, they have to put out something that is safe and will not present a hazard to the public," said Mascaro, who worked in real estate for four decades. "That is not an unreasonable request, especially if, as an owner, there is a clear understanding that there might be something wrong with that property."

But the bill has been stalled for days and is being vehemently opposed by the Utah Apartment Association, which holds that legislation passed in 2009 already ensures tenant safety.

Association president Paul Smith said contaminated dwellings must pass a state-certified test before going back on the market.

"We can never re-rent it until it's clean, basically," he said.

Smith added that while the dangers of meth lab contaminations are serious, no scientific studies have shown that trace amounts of the drug "are even dangerous." Forcing landlords to foot the bill for extensive cleanup in units where the drug has only been used and not manufactured doesn't make sense, he said.

HB190 could make landlords responsible for cleanup, even in cases of contaminated used furniture, he said.

Language in the bill that would have required owners to take reasonable steps to discover contamination was removed from the bill on the House floor, despite objection from Mascaro.

Currently, state law says owners "may" report contamination. That language was cited in a letter sent to decontamination specialists by the Utah Apartment Association last summer that warns them not to report contamination to the health department. If the decontamination specialists contact the government without the permission of an apartment owner, that specialist will no longer be used by association members, according to the letter.

Owners were being "raped" and "held hostage" by the specialists, Smith said.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, is the Senate sponsor of HB190. Monday afternoon, his staff was investigating the measure's failure to progress.

If the bill fails, the issue will be studied during the legislative interim, Mascaro said.

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com