BILL ANALYSIS
SB 443
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 443
AUTHOR: Pavley
AMENDED: April 2, 2009
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 27, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : SUPERMARKET CLEANING PRODUCTS
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Pursuant to Federal Law:
a) The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) the US Environmental Protection Agency
regulates pesticides, including antimicrobial
pesticides.
b) The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act,
requires the Occupational Health and Safety
Administration to prevent work-related injuries,
illnesses, and deaths.
2) Pursuant to the Labor Code, requires employers to
establish, implement, and maintain an effective injury
prevention program as described.
3) Pursuant to the Food and Agriculture Code:
a) Requires Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to
develop regulations for safe working conditions for
farmworkers, pest control applicators, and other persons
handling, storing, or applying pesticides, or working in
and about pesticide-treated areas.
b) Requires DPR, in consultation with the Department of
Health Services and the Air Resources Board (ARB) to
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evaluate the health effects of pesticides which may be
or are emitted into the ambient air of California and
which may be determined to be a toxic air contaminant
which poses a present or potential hazard to human
health.
4) Pursuant to the Health and Safety Code, requires the ARB to
adopt regulations to the maximum reduction in volatile
organic compounds in consumer products.
5) Pursuant to The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement
Act of 1986, (Proposition 65):
a) Prohibits a person, in the course of doing business,
from knowingly and intentionally expose people to a
chemical known to the state to cause cancer or
reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and
reasonable warning.
b) Requires the governor to publish a list of chemicals
"known to the State of California" to cause cancer,
birth defects or other reproductive harm.
c) Provides that no person shall knowingly discharge or
release those same chemicals into any source of drinking
water.
d) Allows for specified exemptions such as when the
exposure or discharge would not pose a significant risk
of cancer, or, for chemicals that cause reproductive
toxicity, would have not observable effect at 1,000
times the level in question.
This bill requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA) to conduct screening-level risk assessments
that evaluate the potential harm to the public, supermarket
employees, custodial staff, and the environment from cleaning
products that are used to clean supermarkets. Specifically
this bill:
1)Defines "Screening-level risk assessment" or "assessment" to
mean an in-depth analysis of a substance to determine
whether the substance is toxic or capable of becoming toxic.
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An assessment shall include an evaluation of any known
environmental concentrations of a substance, as well as
predictions of environmental concentrations of the substance
from releases resulting from its production, processing,
uses, and disposal, and its environmental fate evaluated on
the basis of intrinsic physical and chemical properties,
environmental mobility, and persistence.
2)Defines "Supermarket" to mean the same meaning as defined in
Section 14526.5 of the Public Resources Code, (a full-line,
self-service retail store with gross annual sales of two
million dollars ($2,000,000), or more, and which sells a
line of dry grocery, canned goods, or nonfood items and some
perishable items.).
3)Requires OEHHA, during the 2010 calendar year, to conduct
screening-level risk assessments that will evaluate the
potential harm to the public, supermarket employees,
custodial workers, and the environment that may be in
contact with a chemical or chemical product used for
purposes of cleaning a supermarket. In particular, the
assessments shall evaluate the effects of the chemicals or
chemical products on food safety for consumers and air
toxicity levels.
4)Authorizes OEHHA, for purposes of assisting them in
conducting the assessment, to request that they provide the
office with a list of cleaning products used at the
supermarket.
5)Requires a manufacturer of a cleaning product to provide
OEHHA with information regarding the formulation of the
cleaning product and any other information required to
conduct the assessment.
6)Requires OEHHA to treat all information provided by a
manufacturer as confidential and the information shall be
exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records
Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division
7 of Title 1) of the Government Code.
7)Requires the results of each assessment be published in a
report that OEHHA shall make publicly available and provide
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to a supermarket whose cleaning products have been
evaluated.
8)Requires OEHHA complete a draft of the report on or before
July 1, 2011, and submit the draft report to the
Environmental Policy Council for review and comment.
9)Requires OEHHA to make the draft report available on its
Internet Website for purposes of public comment.
10) Requires OEHHA to issue a final report on or before
December 31, 2011
that:
a) Includes recommendations regarding methods to mitigate
any potential hazards posed by chemicals and chemical
products, and possible alternative products for use by a
supermarket that will maintain public health standards
for sanitation and also protect consumers, supermarket
employees, custodial workers, and the environment for any
toxic or hazardous exposures, and
b) Identify data gaps on ingredients and formulations of
supermarket cleaning products.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, despite the
broad public attention currently focused on green products,
organic foods, and safer cleaning standards, California
supermarkets are using toxic and corrosive cleaning
chemicals near open and packaged food products despite the
existence of safer and healthier chemicals and cleaning
methods.
The sponsors content that this bill is a critical first
step in scrutinizing the chemicals being used in
supermarkets to assess the dangers to consumers and workers
and setting standards and restrictions for current products
while recommending safer alternatives. Janitors cleaning
supermarkets are currently using hazardous and corrosive
chemicals to keep the grocery aisles and storage areas
clean. They use these chemicals around open food and
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produce and packaged goods, and despite safer, greener
alternatives, stores and contractors continue to use
cleaning products that are known to be harmful to workers
2) Green Cleaning . The California Department of General
Services (DGS) as part of their efforts to promote
environmentally preferable purchasing for state and local
agencies has a body of work on this subject. They state
that green cleaning involves using green or environmentally
preferable products and practices. Green or
environmentally preferable products include products that
are certified to contain lower or insignificant amounts of
toxic or hazardous chemicals and have reduced or minimal
adverse environmental impacts. Green or environmentally
preferable cleaning practices refers to methods and
practices that reduce the exposure, of both janitorial
staff and building occupants, to toxic or hazardous
chemicals and the release of polluting chemicals into the
environment. DGS encourages building managers and
procurement officers are encouraged to give preference to
the purchase and use of green cleaning products and
practices when appropriate. Many green janitorial products,
such as general purpose, bathroom, glass or carpet
cleaners, are available that have received independent
third-party certification regarding their overall
performance and environmental impact. Additionally,
facilities can potentially reduce regulatory, procedural,
and financial burdens by switching to green cleaning
products and practices.
3) Policy Considerations . This bill is delving into an arena
that involves many oversight agencies. There are many
existing programs that are intended to address the issue of
worker safety in various ways. There is also existing
information and on-going efforts to look at chemical
exposures, including exposures from cleaning products.
This should mean that the OEHHA's tasks required by this
bill should be made less daunting. However, this requires
that the author and the sponsor work with OEHHA, and the
other applicable state and federal agencies, to target this
measure on the gaps in the existing research and oversight
programs to make best use of the state's resources.
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4) Amendments Needed . While this bill is a work in progress,
amendments are needed to define terms and better focus the
effort. The bill should be amended to:
a) Change the term "screening-level risk assessment" to
"review".
b) Require OEHHA to focus on those cleaning products
that have not already been adequately assessed by
another regulatory body.
c) Require OEHHA to consult with DGS, DPR, ARB, and
other appropriate state and federal agencies to ensure
no duplication of effort.
SOURCE : Consumer Federation of California and Service
Employees International Union
SUPPORT : California Labor Federation
Western States Council of the United Food and
Commercial Workers
46 Individuals
OPPOSITION : California Grocers Association
California Retailers Association
Consumer Specialty Products Association