3.1 Title X, TSCA 402–406, and 40 CFR 745 Architecture

Title X, TSCA 402–406, and 40 CFR 745 Architecture

Quick answer: Congress passed the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 as Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. Title X told EPA and HUD to stand up lead programs and added TSCA Title IV — Lead Exposure Reduction. EPA’s implementing rules live in 40 CFR Part 745. Your supervisor card, firm certification, and abatement work practices are Subpart L, not the Subpart E Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule.

The exam will not ask you to recite the Public Law number. It will ask which statute created training and work practices, which subpart covers abatement, and whether a renovator certificate lets you run an abatement. Hold the map, then apply it to the jobsite.

From Title X to TSCA Title IV

Title X is the housing statute. It directed HUD (especially federally assisted housing and disclosure at sale or lease) and EPA (training, certification, work practices, hazard standards, and state authorization) to reduce childhood lead exposure in housing. Title X also amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by adding Title IV. The TSCA section numbers you will see on the exam are Title IV sections:

Section 1018 is a Title X housing provision, not a TSCA 402–406 section. Supervisors still need it: owners and agents must disclose known LBP and hazards in target housing before a buyer or tenant is obligated. That disclosure file is often sitting in the unit you are about to abate. It is not a substitute for a current inspection or risk assessment, and it does not authorize you to skip Subpart L work practices.

Title X (1992 housing statute)
        |
        +-- HUD: disclosure (1018), Lead Safe Housing Rule (24 CFR 35)
        |
        +-- EPA: TSCA Title IV
                    |
                    +-- 402 training / cert / work practices --> Part 745 Subparts L and E
                    +-- 403 hazard standards                 --> Part 745 Subpart D
                    +-- 404 state/tribal authorization       --> Part 745 Subpart Q
                    +-- 406 pre-renovation information       --> Part 745 Subpart E

Part 745 subparts you must not mix

40 CFR Part 745 is titled Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention in Certain Residential Structures. For this exam, five subparts matter:

• Subpart D — Lead-Based Paint Hazards. TSCA 403 numbers: what is a paint-lead, dust-lead, or soil-lead hazard. On or after January 12, 2026, a dust-lead hazard exists on floors and interior window sills at any reportable level. Action levels used to complete abatement when dust sampling is required are 5 µg/ft² floors, 40 µg/ft² interior window sills, and 100 µg/ft² window troughs. Those two ideas are not the same. Abatement is complete only when dust is below action levels; a reportable result that is still below the action level is still a dust-lead hazard and triggers the dust-lead hazard statement in the abatement report. Chapter 18 owns the sampling protocol; memorize the 2026 numbers here so later chapters have somewhere to hang them.
• Subpart E — Residential Property Renovation (RRP). Certified renovators and RRP firms. Lead-safe work practices for renovation, repair, and painting that is not designed as abatement. Pre-renovation pamphlet rules live here too.
• Subpart F — Disclosure. Sale and lease of target housing. Owners, lessors, and agents — not your abatement certificate — are the primary duty-holders.
• Subpart L — Lead-Based Paint Activities (745.220–745.239). Inspection, risk assessment, and abatement. This is the supervisor’s home: 745.223 definitions, 745.225 training, 745.226 certification of individuals and firms, 745.227 work practices, 745.238 fees.
• Subpart Q — State and Indian Tribal Programs. How a State or Tribe takes over administration in lieu of EPA. Covered in Section 3.3.

Do not mix RRP renovator with abatement supervisor. A certified renovator under Subpart E may disturb lead-based paint during a kitchen remodel. That person is not certified to supervise abatement — permanent elimination of LBP hazards (for dust-lead, to below action levels). A certified supervisor under Subpart L is trained and certified to supervise and conduct abatements and to prepare occupant protection plans and abatement reports. Using an RRP card on an abatement, or calling a gut-rehab “RRP” because the crew prefers the lighter rule, is a TSCA violation and a classic exam trap.

745.220: who Subpart L actually covers

745.220(a) says Subpart L contains accreditation of training programs, certification of individuals and firms, and work practice standards, and that all lead-based paint activities (as defined in the subpart) must be performed by certified individuals and firms, except as discussed below.

745.220(b) is the applicability paragraph. Three ideas sit in one sentence:

1. Covered persons. Subpart L applies to all individuals and firms engaged in lead-based paint activities as defined in 745.223.
2. Owner-occupant exception. It does not apply to persons who perform those activities within residential dwellings that they own, unless (i) the dwelling is occupied by a person or persons other than the owner or the owner’s immediate family while the activities are being performed, or (ii) a child residing in the building has been identified as having an elevated blood lead level (EBL). A landlord abating a tenant-occupied unit is in. An owner-occupant abating the house the family lives in, with no EBL child in the building, is out of Subpart L. Bring in a paid crew that is not the owner, and the crew is in.
3. Geographic trigger. Subpart L applies only in those States or Indian Country that do not have an authorized State or Tribal program pursuant to 745.324. In an authorized State, you follow that State’s certified-supervisor program, not EPA’s card, unless you are on a job that EPA still runs. Section 3.3 is the field rule: check the jobsite’s jurisdiction before you mobilize.

745.220(c) — federal facilities. Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government having jurisdiction over any property or facility, or engaged in any activity that results or may result in a lead-based paint hazard, and each officer, agent, or employee thereof, shall be subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements, both substantive and procedural, including the requirements of this subpart. A federal courthouse daycare, a VA housing unit, or a military family-housing abatement is not “off the EPA books” because it is federal property. Federal actors must meet Subpart L and whatever State or local lead rules apply to that site.

745.220(d) is the other trap: nothing in Subpart L requires an owner or occupant to undertake any particular lead-based paint activity. The rule tells you how to inspect, assess, or abate if those activities are undertaken. It does not, by itself, order every pre-1978 owner to abate. HUD’s Lead Safe Housing Rule, a State EBL order, or a contract can create the duty; Subpart L then supplies the work practices.

OSHA sits beside EPA, not inside Part 745

29 CFR 1926.62 (Lead in Construction) is worker-protection law. It applies on abatement sites in addition to EPA. EPA tells you who may perform the activity and how to protect occupants and the housing; OSHA tells you how to protect employees (PEL, action level, respirators, hygiene, medical removal). Full OSHA is Chapter 16. Do not look for the 50 µg/m³ PEL inside 745.227.

Supervisor field rule from this architecture

When a bid lands:

1. Is the work abatement (permanent elimination of LBP hazards) or RRP / interim controls? If abatement, Subpart L (or the authorized-state equivalent) controls the crew credentials and 745.227 practices.
2. Is the building target housing or a child-occupied facility? Definitions are Section 3.2.
3. Who issues the card on this jobsite — EPA or an authorized State/Tribe? Section 3.3.
4. Which documented methodologies will you use to implement sampling, containment, and cleaning? Section 3.4. HUD Guidelines help you do 745.227; they do not replace it.