Amended in Assembly August 26, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 30

Introduced by Assembly Member Stone

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Atkins, Fong, Rendon, and Williams)

( begin delete Coauthor: Senator end delete begin insert Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier and end insert Pavley)

August 6, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 30—Relative to the federal Chemical Safety Improvement Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 30, as amended, Stone. Federal Chemical Safety Improvement Act.

This measure would memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to respect the rights of states to protect the health of their citizens, including children and pregnant women, and to not enact the federal Chemical Safety Improvement Act in its current form containing provisions that provide for the preemption of a state’s authority to protect the public from toxic begin insert substances and other harmful end insert chemicals.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, California has historically acted in advance of the
federal government to protect its citizens, including vulnerable
subpopulations such as children and pregnant women, against the
harms of exposure to toxic substances begin delete in consumer products end delete begin insert and
other harmful chemicals end insert through strong environmental laws and
regulations, which have also driven innovation in the development
of safer products; and

WHEREAS, California voters overwhelmingly approved
Proposition 65, which added the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic
Enforcement Act of 1986 (Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section
25249.5) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code), to decrease
California’s exposure to toxic substances known to cause cancer,
birth defects, or other reproductive harm by requiring labeling of
consumer products containing these toxic substances; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature enacted Article 14 (commencing
with Section 25251) of Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health
and Safety Code, which is otherwise known as the Green Chemistry
program, in 2008, to identify and prioritize chemicals of concern
and evaluate safer alternatives to toxic chemicals through a
science-based approach; and

begin insert

WHEREAS, The Legislature enacted the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with
Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), a first-in-the-world
comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to
achieve quantifiable and cost-effective reductions of greenhouse
gases; and

end insert

WHEREAS, The State Air Resources Board adopted regulations,
beginning in 1991 and continuing as recently as 2013 (see, for
example, Section 94509 of Title 17 of the California Code of
Regulations), to reduce the volatile organic compounds emissions
from consumer products because these compounds begin delete produce end delete
begin insert contribute to the formation of end insert ozone and particulate matter that
exacerbates respiratory diseases such as asthma; and

WHEREAS, The current version of the federal Chemical Safety
Improvement Act (Sen. No. 1009) has broad preemption provisions
that prevent states from acting to address potential risks of toxic
substances and begin insert other harmful chemicals, as well as end insert from exercising
state enforcement powers that put at risk several California
programs that protect public health, including those listed above,
among others; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature memorializes the Congress
and the President of the United States to respect the rights of states
to protect the health of their citizens, including children and
pregnant women, and to not enact the federal Chemical Safety
Improvement Act (Sen. No. 1009) in its current form containing
provisions that provide for the preemption of a state’s authority to
protect the public, including from toxic begin insert substances and other
harmful end insert chemicals; and be it further

Resolved, That the begin delete Secretary of the Senate end delete begin insert Chief Clerk of the
Assembly end insert transmit copies of this resolution to the President and
Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to the
authors of Senate Bill No. 1009, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.