BILL ANALYSIS
SB 757
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Date of Hearing: June 16, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 757 (Pavley) - As Amended: April 30, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 21-13
SUBJECT : Lead wheel weights.
SUMMARY : Prohibits a person from manufacturing, selling, or
installing a wheel weight that contains more than 0.1 percent
lead by weight and provides that a person who violates this
prohibition is subject to injunction and civil and
administrative penalties. Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits a person from manufacturing, selling, or installing
a wheel weight that contains more than 0.1 percent lead by
weight.
2)Provides that a person who violates or threatens to violate
the lead wheel weight prohibition (prohibition) may be
enjoined in any court of competent jurisdiction.
3)Prohibits the subjection of a person who violates the
prohibition to criminal penalties; provides that a person who
violates the prohibition is liable for administrative or civil
penalties not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars
($2,500) per day for each violation.
a) Provides that the administrative or civil penalty may be
assessed and recovered in an administrative action filed by
the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) with the
Office of Administrative Hearings or in a civil action
brought in any court of competent jurisdiction.
b) Requires the presiding officer or the court, in
assessing the amount of an administrative or a civil
penalty for a violation of the prohibition, to consider a
specified list of criteria, including the nature, extent
and severity of the violation.
4)Requires penalties collected for violations of this
prohibition to be deposited in the Hazardous Waste Control
Account (HWCA), for expenditure by DTSC, upon appropriation by
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the Legislature, to implement and enforce the prohibition.
EXISTING STATE LAW:
1)Under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of
1986 (Proposition 65):
a) Requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA) to publish a list of chemicals known to
cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
b) Prohibits a person in the course of doing business from
knowingly discharging or releasing a chemical known to the
state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity into water
or onto or into land where the chemical could contaminate
drinking water.
c) Prohibits a person in the course of doing business from
knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to a
chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive
toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning
to the individual.
d) Provides that a person that violates or threatens to
violate the provisions of Proposition 65 may be enjoined in
any court of competent jurisdiction.
e) Provides that a person who has violated the provisions
of Proposition 65 is liable for a civil penalty not to
exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per day
for each violation in addition to any other penalty
established by law.
f) Provides that, in assessing the amount of a civil
penalty for a violation of the provisions of Proposition
65, the court shall consider a list of criteria, including
the nature, extent and severity of the violation.
2)Authorizes DTSC to take specified measures, similar to the
general provisions of Proposition 65, to enforce compliance
with prohibitions on lead in jewelry and prohibitions on
packaging containing regulated metals.
3)Requires DTSC, by January 1, 2011, to adopt regulations to
establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals in
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consumer products that may be considered a "chemical of
concern," in accordance with a review process, as specified.
4)Requires DTSC, on or before January 1, 2011, to adopt
regulations to establish a process to evaluate chemicals
concern, and their potential alternatives, in products in
order to determine how best to limit exposure to reduce the
level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern, as specified.
5)Prohibits the sale of candy that is adulterated by lead; the
manufacture, sale and distribution of toys with levels of lead
paint in excess of the amount permitted by federal
regulations; the manufacture, shipping or sale of jewelry,
children's jewelry, or body piercing jewelry containing lead
above specified levels; the installation of leaded pipes and
the use of lead solder; the sale and distribution of tableware
containing lead above specified levels; the sale of glass
bottles with decorations containing lead in excess of
specified levels; and the manufacture and sale of water
coolers that are not lead free.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown costs to DTSC to enforce the provisions
of the bill including costs for seeking administrative and civil
penalties. These costs may be partially offset by penalties
collected and deposited in the HWCA.
COMMENTS :
Purpose : According to the author's office, "In August 2008,
Chrysler, Perfect Equipment, Inc., Hennessey Industries and
Plombco Inc., which are all the lead wheel weight manufacturers
in California, agreed to phase-out lead wheel weights in
California by the end of 2009 as a result of a settlement of a
Proposition 65 enforcement lawsuit. The agreement marks the
first-ever legally binding statewide rule phasing out lead wheel
weights in the United States? SB 757 seeks to codify the 2008
lawsuit settlement as well as further insure that lead wheel
weights are not used in California by banning the sale and
installation of lead in wheel weights. The 2008 lawsuit is
limited to the companies that agreed to the settlement and does
therefore not prevent any companies not enjoined in the
settlement from selling lead wheel weights in the state. SB 757
seeks to insure state-wide compliance with regards to lead wheel
weights in order to fully insure that lead is no longer a toxic
in our drinking water and environment."
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Lead in wheel weights . According to the United States
Geological Survey (USGS), lead weights have been used to balance
wheels since the 1930s. Out-of-balance tires tend to "cup" and
vibrate, cause excessive wear on tires and vehicle suspension
components and therefore result in compromised handling. In
2003, approximately 65,000 tons of lead wheel weights were
estimated to be in use in the United States; approximately 2,000
tons of lead wheel weights were lost on the nation's roadways
that same year.
According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives, lead
weights are lost and deposited on urban streets, accumulate
along the outer curb, and rapidly abrade and ground into tiny
pieces by vehicle traffic. This lead loading of urban streets
by motor vehicle wheel weights is continuous, significant, and
widespread, and is potentially a major source of human lead
exposure. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US
EPA) also recognizes that lead-based wheel weights that have
fallen from vehicles and lead weights that do not enter the
recycling stream may be potential contributors of lead to the
environment.
Lead: a recognized hazard. Lead has been listed under
California's Proposition 65 since 1987 as a substance that can
cause reproductive damage and birth defects and has been on the
list of chemicals known to cause cancer since 1992. According
to DTSC, an extensive body of medical observation and scientific
research has revealed additional toxic effects associated with
lead exposure such as adverse effects on the neurological,
hematopoietic, renal, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal
systems. Childhood exposure to lead is associated with
decreased intelligence; reduced short-term memory; reading
disabilities; and deficits in vocabulary, fine motor skills,
reaction time, and hand-eye coordination.
According to the Center for Environmental Health, about
two-thirds of the lead in California highway runoff comes from
lead wheel weights.
Codifying a settlement : The author notes that this bill seeks
to codify a settlement in a case against lead wheel weight
manufacturers under the provisions of Proposition 65. The Los
Angeles Times, in an August 21, 2008, article entitled "Lead
wheel weights to be phased out in California by end of 2009"
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reported:
"Lead wheel weights, widely used to balance vehicle tires and
considered a threat to drinking water, will be phased out in
California by the end of next year under a court settlement
approved today? The settlement? ends a lawsuit filed in May by
the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health against
Chrysler and the three largest makers of lead wheel weights
for the U.S. market. Some observers see the settlement as a
first step toward a broader ban on the products? Under the
settlement, Chrysler will end the use of factory-installed
lead wheel weights in vehicles sold in California by July 31,
2009. In addition, wheel-weight producer Plombco Inc. of
Canada will end shipments of lead wheel weights to California
by the end of this year. Producers Perfect Equipment Inc. and
Hennessey Industries, both based in LaVergne, Tenn., will stop
shipments to California by the end of 2009."
California's Green Chemistry Initiative : In 2007, DTSC
commenced developing the California Green Chemistry Initiative,
and in December, 2008, it released six policy recommendations
for establishing a comprehensive Green Chemistry program in
California. Last year, the Governor signed AB 1879 and SB 509
into law, which enacted two of the six recommendations. AB 1879
(Feuer and Huffman) Chapter 559, Statutes of 2008, requires DTSC
to adopt regulations by January 1, 2011 to identify and
prioritize chemicals of concern, to evaluate alternatives, and
to specify regulatory responses where chemicals of concern are
found in consumer products. SB 509 (Simitian) Chapter 560,
Statutes of 2008, requires DTSC to establish an online, public
Toxics Information Clearinghouse that includes science-based
information on the toxicity and hazard traits of chemicals used
in daily life. Products such as wheel weights could be
considered through this program.
Current voluntary action . The Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers notes that the bill is unnecessary because the
eleven Alliance car manufacturers have voluntarily eliminated
the use of lead wheel weights; the US EPA has in place a
voluntary program to replace lead wheel weights after market;
and the California Green Chemistry Initiative is the appropriate
way to evaluate the use of chemicals in California. Supporters
of the bill note that while domestic manufacturers are making
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strides toward eliminating the use of lead, foreign
manufacturers and importers of wheel weights are not currently
required or incentivised to do the same.
Alternatives to lead in wheel weights . According to the USGS,
as of July 1, 2005, lead wheel weights were banned on new
vehicles and on after-market wheels in Europe in response to
environmental concerns about losses along roadways and
inappropriate disposal by tire retailers and scrap processors.
European-manufactured vehicles are using steel, zinc, and other
metals as a substitute for lead in wheel weights. American
manufacturers are also producing zinc weights as a replacement
for lead weights.
While it appears that alternatives to lead wheel weights exist,
the bill does not require an alternatives analysis or other
means by which to ensure that replacements for lead in wheel
weights are less harmful to public health or the environment.
Therefore, alternatives could prove to be equally or more
harmful to human health and the environment. Because of this,
the Committee may wish to consider requiring that alternatives
to lead in wheel weights are assessed to ensure that
alternatives are no more toxic to human health and the
environment than current wheel weights.
Double referral : This bill is double referred to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Center for Environmental Health (co- sponsor)
Clean Water Action (co- sponsor)
American Federation of State, County Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
Consumers Union
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Environmental Working Group
Perfect Equipment, Inc.
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Worksafe
Opposition
SB 757
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965