BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 22
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  SB 22 (Simitian) - As Amended:  December 1, 2008 

          Policy Committee:                              Environmental  
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 6-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the Office of Environmental Health Hazard  
          Assessment (OEHHA) to recommend procedures for speeding the  
          review and identification of hazard traits for substances to be  
          included in the California Toxics Information Clearinghouse of  
          chemicals contained in consumer products.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor, absorbable costs to OEHHA to develop recommendations.

          2)Cost pressure to OEHHA of an unknown amount, but potentially  
            in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the  
            details of OEHHA's recommended procedures and to the extent  
            OEHHA adopts them.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author contends clarification of OEHHA's  
            authority will facilitate development of the Toxic Information  
            Clearinghouse.

           2)Background  .  In 2008, the governor signed two bills intended  
            to establish a comprehensive "green chemistry" approach to  
            regulating potentially harmful chemicals in consumer products.  
             The first bill, AB 1879  (Feuer and Huffman), requires the  
            Department of Toxic Substances Control (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.  The second bill, SB 509 (Simitian),  








                                                                  SB 22
                                                                  Page  2

            requires DTSC to establish an online, public Toxics  
            Information Clearinghouse of science-based information on the  
            toxicity and hazard traits of chemicals as identified by  
            OEHHA.  

           3)This bill appears to be unnecessary  . It is not apparent what,  
            if anything, currently prevents OEHHA from recommending  
            procedures for speeding the review and identification of  
            hazard traits for substances to be included in the California  
            Toxics Information Clearinghouse.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081