BILL ANALYSIS
SB 928
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 29, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
SB 928 (Simitian) - As Amended: June 17, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 21-12
SUBJECT : Cleaning products: content disclosure.
SUMMARY : Requires manufacturers to disclosure the chemical
content of specified types of cleaning products sold in
California. Specifically, this bill requires:
1)Prohibits, beginning on July 1, 2011, specified cleaning
products from being manufactured or sold in California unless
the manufacturer of those products provides an Internet web
site that identifies the product's ingredients. The cleaning
products subject to this disclosure requirement include the
following:
a) Air care products that are designed for the purpose of
masking odors, or for freshening, cleaning, scenting, or
deodorizing the air.
b) Automotive products that are designed to maintain the
appearance of a motor vehicle, including products for
washing, waxing, polishing, cleaning, or treating the
exterior or interior surfaces of motor vehicles.
c) Cleaning products, including soap, detergent, or other
consumer products designed to clean or disinfect surfaces,
including, but not limited to, floors, furniture,
countertops, showers and baths, or other hard surfaces,
such as stovetops, microwaves, and other appliances, fabric
care, or dish washing.
d) Polish or floor maintenance products, such as polish,
wax, or a restorer designed to polish, protect buff,
condition, temporarily seal, or maintain furniture, floors,
metal, leather, or other surfaces.
2)Authorizes manufactures to not disclose materials that are:
a) Processing aids;
b) Small qualities of substances that have no technical or
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functional effects; or
c) Trade secrets.
3)Excludes from the definition of trade secrets material that is
any of the following:
a) Hazardous substances;
b) Materials that can be determined by reverse engineering;
c) Products that have already been disclosed by the
manufacturer;
d) Contents that are required to be disclosed by another
statutes; or
e) Information that has been legally disclosed by a
government agency.
4)Requires, in the case of a manufacturer claiming that the
content represents a trade secret, the manufactures is to
submit a justification to the Department of Toxics Substance
Control (DTSC) on the nature of the trade secret and the
actions taken by the manufactures to protect that trade secret
information.
5)Requires DTSC to disclose information previously claimed as a
trade secret if it receives a public request or if DTSC finds
that the information is not a protected trade secret. In the
event that DTSC seeks to release these trade secrets, DTSC is
to notify the manufacture, at which time the manufacturer may
seek action in an appropriate court to halt distribution of
the information.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Requires the 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. 3) Requires DTSC to 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. 4)
Requires DTSC to establish regulations that specify a range
of negative responses from chemicals.
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2) 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. The bill 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
1)Need for the bill . According to the author, "the current
state and federal laws do not require the disclosure of
ingredients in cleaning products. There is a growing
awareness and concern among consumers, especially those with
predisposition to chemical sensitivities, about the exposure
to chemicals in their homes and workplaces. This bill
addresses that lack of transparency for chemical ingredients
in products to help identify potential adverse health and
environmental impacts caused by those products. For many
years, consumers have assumed that somewhere in the depths of
"government" there are regulators who are reviewing product
ingredients for their safety. In general, that isn't so.
While there is extensive information and disclosure
requirements for a number of consumer products such as food
and pharmaceuticals, the vast number of consumer products lack
information that consumers can use to make informed decisions
about their purchases. This makes it impossible for consumer
to avoid products that may be hazardous to them or make
choices for greener products."
2)CSPA Consumer Product Ingredient Communication Initiative .
The provisions of SB 928 and the selection of specific
cleaning products for inclusion in disclosure requirements in
this bill was based on the model disclosure protocol developed
by the Consumer Specialty Product Association (CSPA). The
major differences between SB 928 and the CSPA model are the
CSPA limits on disclosure of trade secrets, fragrance and
dyes, and industrial products.
3)Fragrances. The current practice for product disclosure has
been to identify fragrances as a separate category of product
content, without identifying the specific chemical composition
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used in the fragrances. In some cases, manufactures,
including Method Products Inc. and SC Johnson Company, have
eliminated chemicals of concern like Diethyl Phthalate. Their
Internet web sites reported that these chemicals are not
present in the fragrance used in specific products. According
to the Consumer Specialty Products Association, fragrances are
inherently a trade secret.
4)Trade secret provisions. This bill requires DTSC to treat as
confidential any information that is identified by the
manufacturer as a trade secret. The bill also requires
information that is not a trade secret be made available to
the public, pursuant to the California Public Records Act.
Under the Green Chemistry Initiative, an individual may
request DTSC to release information that has been claimed to
be a trade secret. In that situation, DTSC must immediately
notify the person who submitted the information and then,
based on the request, determine whether the information
claimed to be a trade secret is to be released to the public.
In contrast, this bill does not provide any review prior to
the release of information identified by the manufacturer as a
trade secret. Although there are several different mechanisms
in existing law for handling a request for information claimed
to be a trade secret, it is not clear why this bill differs
from the Green Chemistry Initiative in this respect.
5)Green Chemistry coordination and product disclosure. As part
of the Green Chemistry Initiative, the Governor signed AB 1879
(Feuer and Huffman) Chapter 559, Statutes of 2008, into law.
AB 1879 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.
The enactment of SB 928 may have the effect of precluding any
action by DTSC on product ingredient disclosure of cleaning
products under the State Green Chemistry statute.
Specifically, the current law provides an exemption from Green
Chemistry for those products subject to regulation similar to
the Green Chemistry Statutes (H&S code 252571(c)). This bill
may be interpreted as an exemption for cleaning products from
the current authority under Green Chemistry.
The Committee may consider adopting amendments to allow
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the Green Chemistry process to establish new disclosure
requirements for cleaning products if DTSC finds that more
stringent standards are warranted based on the Green
Chemistry evaluation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AFSCME
Breast Cancer Action
Breast Cancer Fund
California Labor Federation
CHANGE (Californians for a Health and Green Economy)
Center for Environmental Health
Clean Water Action
Environment California
Environmental Working Group
Service Employees International Union
Seventh Generation
Sierra Club California
Women's Voices for the Earth
Opposition
Agilex Flavor and Fragrances
Alpine Aromatics International, Inc.
American Cleaning Institute
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association
Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.
Belmay, Inc.
Berje Inc.
Bontoux, Inc.
CalChamber
California Automotive Wholesalers' Association
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California New Car Dealers Association
Charkit Chemical Corporation
Chemia Corporation
Church & Dwight Company, Inc.
Consumer Specialty Products Association
Firmenich Incorporated
Fragrance Materials Association
Fragrance Resources, Inc.
Givaudan Fragrance Corporation
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Henkel Consumer Goods, Inc.
John D. Walsh Company, Inc.
Mane USA Inc.
OMNOVA Solutions Inc.
Procter & Gamble Company
Takasago International Corp, (USA)
Ungerer & Company
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965