Bill Seeking to Regulate Mold in Public Buildings in SC Passes State House Senate

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – A proposed bill that could bring South Carolina one step closer to regulating mold is now one step closer to becoming a reality.

House Bill 3127 is a resolution that will establish a committee that would study the impacts of mold and find the best way to get rid of it. According to online records from the S.C. Legislature, the bill passed the House on 2/12 and then passed the Senate on 3/14.

The committee would be called the Mold Abatement and Remediation Study Committee and would look at public policy issues relative to mold in public buildings, focus on the impacts of heath of children in public schools, and propose policy initiatives to remediate and get rid of mold problems. The proposed legislation comes as many Horry County parents continue to express concerns over mold issues at local schools.

Last week, St. James Elementary School was proclaimed free of amplified mold spores after several rounds of testing and cleaning. After mold became a concern at St. James, WMBF News put in a request for work orders at Horry County Schools since February 2015 that contained the words mold, mildew, humidity and air quality. WMBF received about 90 pages worth of documents and some of those work orders contained concerns about mold growing in several different schools.

North Myrtle Beach Middle School, Conway High School, Lakewood Elementary School and Forestbrook Middle School are just some among the more than 30 schools where staff described potential mold and mildew issues over the last four years.

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Author: Carolyn Willbanks