WASHINGTON - At it spring meeting in Arizona, NPCA's board of directors and executive committee took action on several initiatives, including the association's Architectural and Industrial Maintenance (AIM) Coatings - Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) policy, a federal legislative strategy to address childhood lead poisoning and further study of a possible national system for the management of post-consumer paint.

The board endorsed the strategic effort and activities currently under way, which encourage the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board to replace the current hostile regulatory environment with a constructive dialogue based on the dissemination of complete and accurate data. Simultaneous efforts are being made to revive discussion with the U.S. EPA to ensure the national AIM rules have the intended strength of uniformity among the states.

A formal motion was passed by the board to begin carrying out the chief components of the strategy as outlined in the white paper, "Comprehensive Federal Legislative Strategy to Create Lead-Safe Housing and Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning." The paper canvasses current public policy landscape with analysis of the trends and obstacles to eliminate this national problem.

The board, by formal motion, instructed NPCA to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the industry, the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), and its state and local government members, which will guide the development of a national strategy for the reuse, disposal, recovery and recycling of leftover consumer paint. The board also charged the NPCA to continue the current dialogue with PSI while also managing and funding four of the MOU's pilot projects intended to demonstrate effective solutions for post-consumer paint cost/volume reduction, which states can utilize to reduce the current (PSI-estimated) $271 million annual national expense related to consumer paint waste, disposal, recycling and reduction.