BILL NUMBER: AB 19 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ruskin
DECEMBER 1, 2008
An act to add Division 27.5 (commencing with Section 44570) to the
Health and Safety Code, relating to product labeling.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 19, as introduced, Ruskin. Greenhouse gas emissions: consumer
product labeling.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the
State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with
monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases
that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases.
This bill would enact the Carbon Labeling Act of 2009. The act
would require the state board to develop and implement a program for
the voluntary assessment, verification, and standardized labeling of
the carbon footprint, as defined, of consumer products sold in this
state.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Division 27.5 (commencing with Section 44570) is added
to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
DIVISION 27.5. The Carbon Labeling Act of 2009
CHAPTER 1. TITLE
44570. This division shall be known, and may be cited as, the
Carbon Labeling Act of 2009.
CHAPTER 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS
44571. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Global warming poses a serious threat to the economic
well-being, public health, natural resources, and the environment of
California.
(b) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division
25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) provides a regulatory framework
to establish and enforce greenhouse gas emission reductions.
(c) Consumer choice can play a significant role in helping
California meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, but
only if consumers have usable and reliable information about the
greenhouse gas emissions resulting from their product choices.
(d) It has been estimated that household consumption of consumer
goods in the United States accounts for emissions of more than 15
metric tons of greenhouse gas equivalents, or about one-third of
total household emissions, per year.
(e) There are numerous attempts throughout the world to provide
product information to consumers, any of which are not regulated.
(f) The state should identify the best approach to standardizing
product labeling to help businesses and to provide accurate
information to consumers.
(g) The methodological and technical challenges of measuring
greenhouse gas emissions are already being addressed by researchers
in California and across the world. Converting these measurement
methods into a viable, practical greenhouse gas emission label
involves crafting a compromise solution that is both accurate and
precise, as well as feasible for producers to implement.
(h) The development of a voluntary carbon or greenhouse gas
emissions labeling program for consumer products can harness the
power of the marketplace to create incentives for manufacturers to
innovate and compete to reduce the carbon footprint of their
products.
CHAPTER 3. DEFINITIONS
44572. As used in this division the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Carbon footprint" means the total amount of emissions of
greenhouse gas, as defined in Section 38505, that occur as a result
of a product's life cycle, or as determined by the state board to
best implement this division.
(b) "State board" means the State Air Resources Board.
CHAPTER 4. CARBON LABELING PROGRAM
44574. (a) The state board shall develop and implement a program
for the voluntary assessment, verification, and labeling of the
carbon footprint of consumer products sold in this state. In order to
create this program, the state board shall establish standard
methodologies for assessing, verifying, and labeling the carbon
footprint of a consumer product. The state board shall only include a
product category in a standard if it determines that it is feasible
and practical to do so. The state board may choose to adopt a
methodology for a single product category before expanding the scope
of the adopted standard to other product categories.
(b) The program shall do both of the following:
(1) Allow a consumer product manufacturer, on a voluntary basis,
to determine the carbon footprint of the product by applying the
criteria and standards developed by the state board, and to include
that information on the product, product packaging, and product
advertising, consistent with the labeling standards developed by the
state board.
(2) Develop a standardized, easily understandable, label that
communicates to consumers relevant information about the carbon
footprint of a consumer product. The label may be issued to a company
that meets all of the obligations of the adopted standard for
measuring a product's carbon footprint.
(c) The state board may use data from outside sources to develop
the standards required to be created by subdivision (a), including
the use of existing models and labels. The state board may consult
with representatives of consumer product manufacturers, consumer
groups, and environmental groups, and conduct public hearings and
workshops, to inform the development of the standards required to be
established pursuant to subdivision (a).
(d) (1) The state board shall determine the appropriate boundaries
in determining and assessing the carbon footprint of a consumer
product, which may include raw material extraction, production
processing or manufacturing, transportation, distribution, consumer
use, and disposal. The state board may vary these boundaries by
product category.
(2) The state board may develop a hybrid life cycle analysis
methodology standard by relying on company measurements of energy
use, other greenhouse gas emission sources, and national averages, or
other available information for determining the carbon footprint.
(e) If the state board determines that feasible measurement
methodologies are not sufficiently accurate to allow for direct
comparisons of the carbon footprint of two like products within a
product category, the state board may elect to develop standards for
communicating all of the following:
(1) The average greenhouse gas emissions in a product category in
order to allow consumers to compare across categories.
(2) Whether a product has a lower carbon footprint than the
average comparable product available in that category.
(3) A specific carbon footprint score that delineates the range of
error produced by the methodology.
44575. The state board may adopt standardized criteria for
third-party verification of the carbon footprint of a consumer
product, if the state board determines that this kind of verification
is necessary, or the state board may develop an alternative means of
ensuring compliance with the labeling standards created pursuant to
this chapter.
44576. The state board may contract for cost-effective services
necessary to implement this chapter.
44577. Consumer product manufacturers that label their products
in accordance with this chapter shall be responsible for all costs
related to the review and validation of carbon label information
required by the state board. The state board may charge an
application fee to participating consumer product manufacturers to
pay the costs of the program established pursuant to this chapter.