BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 928|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 928
Author: Simitian (D)
Amended: 3/25/10
Vote: 21
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 4-1, 4/5/10
AYES: Simitian, Corbett, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Strickland
SUBJECT : Consumer products: content information
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : The bill requires a manufacturer or wholesaler
of a designated consumer product, as defined, on or before
March 31, 2011, to provide a notice that lists all
substances, identified by a number or other unique
identifier, that are contained in that product, by posting
that information on the manufacturer's or wholesaler's
Internet Web site. A manufacturer or wholesaler that does
not maintain an Internet Web site would be required by the
bill to establish such an Internet Web site.
ANALYSIS : Existing federal law:
1. Pursuant to the Consumer Product Safety Act, provides
protection of the public against unreasonable risks of
injury associated with consumer products, largely by
developing uniform safety standards for those products.
CONTINUED
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2. Pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA),
states that adequate data should be developed with
respect to the effect of chemical substances and
mixtures on health and the environment and that the
development of such data should be the responsibility of
those who manufacture and those who process such
chemical substances and mixtures.
Existing California law:
1. Requires the manufacturer of a cosmetic product to
disclose to the Department of Public Health a list of
any ingredient in their product that is a chemical which
has been identified to cause cancer or reproductive
damage, pursuant to the California Safe Cosmetics Act of
2005.
2. Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to adopt regulations to: 1) establish a process
to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical
ingredients in products that may be considered a
"chemical of concern;" 2) establish a process for
evaluating chemicals of concern in products, and their
potential alternatives in order to determine how best to
limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by
a chemical of concern, as specified; and establish a
process that includes an evaluation of the availability
of potential alternatives and potential hazards posed by
alternatives, as well as an evaluation of critical
exposure pathways.
3. Requires DTSC to establish a Toxics Information
Clearinghouse for the collection, maintenance, and
distribution of specific chemical hazard traits and
environmental and toxicological end-point data. Also
requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment to evaluate and specify the hazard traits and
environmental and toxicological end-points and any other
relevant data that are to be included in the
clearinghouse.
This bill:
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1. Makes legislative findings regarding the federal
Consumer Product Safety Act and the authority of states
to impose stricter requirements if the state standard
provides a higher degree of protection than the federal
standard.
2. Defines various terms, including "designated consumer
product."
3. Requires a manufacturer or wholesaler of a designated
consumer product to provide notice of all substances
that are contained in their product.
4. Provides that notice is fulfilled by the posting of
required information on a manufacturer's or wholesaler's
Web site; manufacturers or wholesalers must establish a
Web site for compliance with this bill.
5. Declares that its provisions are severable and if any
provision of the bill is held invalid, that invalidity
would not affect other provisions or applications that
can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application.
Comments
According to the author's office, there are currently more
than 80,000 chemicals approved under federal law for use in
the United States. Each day, a total of 42 billion pounds
of chemical substances are produced or imported in the U.S.
for commercial and industrial uses. An additional 1,000
new chemicals are introduced into commerce each year.
Approximately one new chemical comes to market every 2.6
seconds and global chemical production is projected to
double every 25 years. The average U.S. consumer today
comes into contact with 100 chemicals per day. In 2009,
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control conducted the Fourth
National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental
Chemicals which measured 212 chemicals in the blood and
urine of a representative population of California.
California consumers and businesses are becoming
increasingly aware and concerned about the abundance of
chemicals that they are exposed to in the products that
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they use on a day-to-day basis in their homes and in the
workplace. However, they lack the ability to make informed
decisions about the chemicals in the products that they
purchase because product manufacturers are not required to
disclose the chemicals in the products. Additionally the
author's office states that there is a vast gap in data
concerning how Californians are being exposed to these
chemicals, at what level and frequency they are being
exposed and what the impacts are of the individual or
synergistic, long or short term, low or high concentration
exposures because there is a lack of chemical ingredient
disclosure on consumer products. Given the magnitude of
chemical production, use and exposure, it is crucial to
construct a better understanding of these exposures.
According to the author's office, this bill empowers
California consumers and businesses to access basic
information about the ingredients in their products and
makes informed decisions about the type of products that
they purchase and use, and would help construct a clearer
picture of where chemicals are used in consumer products
and how that impacts exposures.
The TSCA . The TSCA of 1976 authorizes the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to require
reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements, and set
restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or
mixtures. Certain substances are generally excluded from
TSCA, including, among others, food, drugs, cosmetics and
pesticides. TSCA addresses the production, importation,
use, and disposal of specific chemicals. Among its
provisions, TSCA requires USEPA to maintain the TSCA
inventory which currently contains more than 83,000
chemicals. As new chemicals are commercially manufactured
or imported, they are placed on the list.
TSCA requires the submission of health and safety studies
which are known or available to those who manufacture,
process, or distribute in commerce specified chemicals; and
allows USEPA to gather information from manufacturers and
processors about production/import volumes, chemical uses
and methods of disposal, and the extent to which people and
the environment are exposed.
Extensive deficiencies in the federal regulation of
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chemicals . Of all federal environmental statutes, the TSCA
is the only law that is intended to enable regulation of
chemicals both before and after they enter commerce.
Numerous academic, legal, and scientific bodies have all
concluded that TSCA has not served as an effective vehicle
for the public, industry, or government to assess the
hazards of chemicals in commerce. After decades of
implementation, TSCA has largely failed to provide the
necessary information to assess the health and
environmental effects for tens of thousands of chemicals in
commerce.
TSCA's weaknesses have far-reaching effects. Lacking
comprehensive and standardized information on toxicity and
eco-toxicity for most chemicals, it is very difficult for
businesses and industry to choose safer chemicals or to
identify and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in their
supply chains. Government agencies do not have the
information they need to systematically identify and
prioritize chemical hazards, nor the legal tools to
efficiently mitigate known hazards.
In 2003, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the
Assembly committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials commissioned a report from the University of
California to investigate the current legal and regulatory
structure for chemical substance and report on how a
California chemicals policy could address environmental and
health concerns about chemical toxicity, build a long-term
capacity to improve the design and use of chemicals, and
understand the implications of European policy on the
California chemical market.
In 2006, the U.C. Berkeley authors presented the
commissioned report, Green Chemistry in California: A
Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation
and made a connection between weaknesses in federal policy,
namely TSCA, and the health and environmental damage
happening in California. The report broadly summarized
their findings into what they called the "three gaps".
1. Data Gap: There is a lack of information on which
chemicals are safe, which are toxic, and what chemicals
are in products. The lack of access to chemical data
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creates an unequal marketplace. California businesses
cannot choose and make safer products and respond to
consumer demand without ingredient disclosure and safety
testing.
2. Safety Gap: Government agencies do not have the legal
tools or information to prioritize chemical hazards.
Under TSCA only 5 chemicals out of 83,000 have been
banned since 1976. The California legislature has
frequently addressed this problem by approving
individual chemical bans. Chemical bans come before the
legislature because there are very few other mechanisms
in place at the federal or state level that can remove
harmful chemicals from the marketplace.
3. Technology Gap: There is an absence of regulatory
incentives, market motivation which stems from the data
gap, and educational emphasis on green chemistry
methodologies and technologies. In order to build a
substantial green chemistry infrastructure, a coincident
investment and commitment must be made to strengthen
industrial and academic research and development.
In 2007, the California Environmental Protection Agency
launched California's Green Chemistry Initiative within the
DTSC. The California Green Chemistry Initiative Final
Report released in December 2008 included the following six
policy recommendations for implementing this comprehensive
program in order to foster a new era in the design of a new
consumer products economy, inventing, manufacturing and
using toxic-free, sustainable products.
1. Expand Pollution Prevention and product stewardship
programs to more business sectors to focus on prevention
rather than simple source reduction or waste controls.
2. Develop Green Chemistry Workforce Education and
Training, Research and Development and Technology
Transfer through new and existing educational program
and public/private partnerships.
3. Create an Online Product Ingredient Network to disclose
chemical ingredients for products sold in California,
while protecting trade secrets.
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4. Create an Online Toxics Clearinghouse, an online
database providing data on chemical, toxicity and hazard
traits to the market place and public.
5. Accelerate the Quest for Safer Products, creating a
systematic, science-based process to evaluate chemicals
of concern and identify safer alternatives to ensure
product safety.
6. Move Toward a Cradle-to-Cradle Economy to leverage
market forces to produce products that are
"benign-by-design" in part by establishing a California
Green Products Registry to develop green metrics and
tools for a range of consumer products and encourage
their use by businesses.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/6/10)
Breast Cancer Action
Breast Cancer Fund
Clean Water Action
Environment California
Environmental Working Group
Sierra Club
Women's Voices for the Earth
OPPOSITION : (Verified 4/6/10)
California Chamber of Commerce
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters state that in the quest
for sparkling clean, germ-free homes, today's consumers
have a vast array of products at their disposal:
detergents, disinfectants, glass cleaners, carpet cleaners,
stain removers, air fresheners and all-purpose cleansers.
Sales of cleaning products to U.S. consumers reached $7.3
billion dollars in 2007. But many consumers don't know,
and the labels won't tell them, that chemicals found in
some ordinary household products are known or suspected to
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cause cancer, birth defects, asthma, skin sensitivities,
allergic reactions and other serious health effects.
Supporters state that current law does not require
manufacturers to disclose the ingredients in cleaning
products to consumers. While some companies are beginning
to disclose cleaning product ingredients, many chemicals
remain hidden, particularly those found in fragrances.
Consumers who want to make educated purchases are often in
the dark when it comes to how to purchase safe cleaning
products.
They add that similarly, institutions like hospitals and
schools who serve vulnerable populations are often denied
access to ingredient information from manufacturers. These
institutions are then forced to buy products about which
they know little or nothing regarding possible health
hazards. Even physicians treating patients who have
suffered adverse reactions from exposure to cleaning
products cannot get access to ingredient lists.
The supporters believe that this bill will give consumers
the information they need to make educated decisions about
their purchases.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents state that, the full
ingredient disclosure in this bill is unnecessary, not
scientifically sound, likely to cause consumer confusion
and is potentially harmful to product innovation.
This bill requires redundant layers of compliance by
requiring manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to
disclose ingredients in products they sell on their
websites, which will add cost to products sold in
California.
California businesses cannot ultimately compel the
manufacturers that they do business with to disclose
ingredient information and as such would have to stop
selling products in California for which information cannot
be obtained.
Many small businesses do not currently maintain a website
because they lack the expertise to do so and the cost of
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paying someone to build and maintain a website is cost
prohibitive. The opposition feels that requiring website
disclosure is an impediment to small business.
TSM:nl 4/7/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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