Lead-Safe Wisconsin: Laws and Rules
Give your input on draft proposed rules
From now until October 8, 2026, we're seeking input on the economic impact of draft proposed rules in ch. DHS 163 (PDF), relating to certification for the identification, removal and reduction of lead-based paint hazards. See our Administrative Rules webpage for details.
Both Wisconsin and federal laws protect people from lead. If state and federal rules differ, the stricter one must be followed.
What Wisconsin's lead laws cover
Wisconsin has several statutes and rules about lead hazards. They set requirements for:
- House sales.
- Landlord and tenant agreements.
- Lead hazard reduction and renovation.
- Public health response to lead poisoning.
- Residential facilities.
- Reporting blood lead test results for adults and children.
- Environmental health:
- Landlord and tenant:
- Disclosures by owners of residential real estate:
- Certification for the identification, removal, and reduction of lead-based paint hazards:
- Wisconsin Admin. Code ch. DHS 163 (PDF)
- For more information, visit: Wisconsin's Lead-Safe Renovation Rule
- Reporting of blood lead test results:
- Lead poisoning or lead exposure prevention grants:
Other state agencies enforce additional rules, such as rules for drinking water and child care licensing. To learn more, visit:
Federal laws and resources
- Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X): Congress passed this law in 1992. It sets the federal plan for lowering lead paint exposure in houses.
- Toxic Substances Control Act, Title IV: Defines hazardous levels of lead in paint, dust, and soil.
- 42 CFR 35 Subpart A: Lead Disclosure Rule: Requires disclosure of known information on lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before the sale or lease of most pre-1978 housing.
- 24 CFR Part 35: Lead Safe Housing Rule: Applies to most pre-1978 "target housing" that is federally owned and/or receiving federal assistance.
- 40 CFR Part 745: EPA's Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule: Requires firms performing renovation, repair, and painting projects (RRP) that disturb lead-based paint in most pre-1978 homes, child care, pre-schools, and child-occupied facilities to obtain firm certification and use certified renovators.
- OSHA lead standards: These standards protect people who paint, renovate, or use paint in other ways.
- Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA): Protects people from lead in drinking water by required EPA to set national rules for public water systems to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water and by prohibiting the use of sale of plumbing materials that contain lead.
- Lead and Copper Rule: Established requirements for monitoring, corrosion control treatment, public education, and lead service line replacement to reduce lead and copper levels in drinking water.
- Lead Free Rule: Implements statutory restrictions on the use, sale, and distribution of pipes, plumbing fixtures, solder, or flux that are not "lead free."
- Clean Water Act (CWA): Prohibits discharges of pollutants, including lead, form a point source to a water of the United States unless authorized.
- Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) & Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA): RCRA regulates hazardous lead-bearing waste with leachable concentration of lead at 5ppm or greater from the point of generation to ultimate disposal in a controlled environment, helping to prevent lead from being released into the environment. CERLA addresses lead after it has been released into the environment.
- Clean Air Act: Gives EPA authority to regulate lead in multiple ways, including by setting national ambient air quality standards and emission standards for lead and regulating the use of lead as a fuel addititve.