Comments about ‘Utah Legislature: Meth reporting bill stalled in Senate’

Why should there even be a question about this? Of course they need to report it.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!

This is something that should have been done years ago...Turning a blind eye has been the norm here in Utah..Just paint the walls and call it good.

In other states you can get sued for not disclosing if the house was used as a meth lab.

For those of us that live in apartments, all I can ask is for the Legislature to do some serious thinking here. That may seem like a lot to ask, but seriously. As residents, we have the right to know if our apartments are contaminated. The UAA sounds like resident safety isn't the top of their priority list. I can only hope the Legislature does the right thing here.

The reporting of meth contamination should not be left up to the landlords, it should include anyone who has knowledge of it, especially companies hired to do the cleanup. Landlords should show proof that the property has been reported to the health department before any cleanup can start.

This legislation was most likely drafted by the renters association to limit reporting of the drug labs and mold infested property. After the expose last week about the non disclosure statements cleaning crews must sign proves that landlords have intent to cover up these drug labs in order to rent their property without any disclosures. It should be criminal for property owners to interfere with anyone reporting these toxic units.

Most of the time these drug labs are set up in isolated homes and not apartments and property owners should be held more liable when their property becomes contaminated. It has also been proven that the meth lab properties toxicity goes beyond the paint and washing the walls in to the very structure of the building.

As far as the law should go, it should permanently condemn any contaminated property from human occupation.

based upon disability claims of police officers that go into meth homes these homes are dangerous and can cause serious health problems.
The health of humans trumps the interest of landlords.
They should be torn down, and rebuilt, and not rented at all.

Recent news about the UAA's letter (threatening decontamination specialists who tattle with blacklisting) shows that they value secrecy over public health. In that letter UAA quoted Utah law to supposedly prove that the decontamination specialists may only report contamination if the property owners decide to have it reported. Lie. Read:

"Utah Code 19-6-904. Decontamination specialist reporting to local health departments.
"(1) A certified decontamination specialist is required to report to the local health department the location of any property that is the subject of decontamination work by that decontamination specialist. The report shall be submitted prior to commencement of the decontamination work.
"(2) The report under Subsection (1) shall include:
"(a) sufficient information to allow the local health department to investigate and verify the location of the property, including the address and description of the property; and
"(b) a proposed work plan for decontaminating the property.
"(3) Upon completion of the decontamination process, a report certifying that the property is decontaminated shall be submitted to the local health department within 30 days."

To be fair, who should pay for the cost of losing or cleaning up contaminated property? Who protects owners against derelict renters?

Property owners should have insurance.
Go after the renters if possible, but lets be honest, they are drug dealers and criminals, not the most responsible people.
However renters do have the right to not be exposed to meth.
The health of renters exceeds the finanical interest of a landlord.