BILL ANALYSIS
SB 929
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 929 (Pavley)
As Amended August 16, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :26-10
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 6-1APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Nava, Chesbro, Davis, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Bradford, |
| |Feuer, Monning, Ruskin | |Huffman, Coto, Davis, De |
| | | |Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Miller |Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Prohibits, commencing on January 1, 2012, a person
from manufacturing, shipping, or selling children's jewelry that
contains cadmium at any level above 300 parts per million (ppm).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits, commencing on January 1 2012, a person from
manufacturing, shipping, selling, offering for sale, or
offering for sale or promotional purposes children's jewelry
or a component of children's jewelry that is made of any
material that is more than 300 ppm by weight.
2)Exempts form this prohibition toys regulated for cadmium
exposure under the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement
Act of 2008.
3)Establishes that the provisions of this bill do not limit,
supersede, duplicate, or otherwise conflict with the authority
of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to fully
implement the Green Chemistry statutes, including the
SB 929
Page 2
authority of DTSC to include products in a product registry.
Establishes that cadmium-containing jewelry will not be
considered as a product category already regulated or subject
to pending regulation for purposes of the Green Chemistry
statutes.
4)Authorizes DTSC to establish a standard for children's jewelry
or for a component of children's jewelry that is more
protective of public health, of sensitive subpopulations or of
the environment than the 300 ppm standard.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits the manufacture, shipping, sale, or offering for
sale of jewelry that is not made of specified materials (sets
standards for lead in jewelry). Authorizes DTSC to enforce
this prohibition.
2)Requires, under the Green Chemistry statutes, DTSC to
identify, prioritize and regulate chemicals of concern in
consumer products. Authorizes DTSC to take regulatory action
to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by a
chemical of concern.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor, absorbable costs to DTSC, which already
investigates the sale of and analyzes the content of children's
jewelry for lead. DTSC should be able to incorporate into its
existing children's jewelry activities the cadmium-related
workload required by this bill.
COMMENTS : According to the author, SB 929 is a child safety
measure that seeks to protect toddlers and young children from
cadmium, a toxic metal that has been found increasingly in
children's jewelry. The author argues that this bill is a
clean-up measure to her AB 1681 (Pavley) Chapter 415, Statutes
of 2006, which prohibited lead in jewelry. SB 929 responds to
recent findings that, in reaction to AB 1681, jewelry
manufacturers are now substituting lead with cadmium in
children's products.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
eating food or drinking water with very high levels of cadmium
severely irritates the stomach, leading to vomiting and
SB 929
Page 3
diarrhea. Long-term exposure to lower levels of cadmium in air,
food, or water leads to a buildup of cadmium in the kidneys and
possible kidney disease. Other long-term effects include
fragile bones. California, under Proposition 65 lists cadmium
and cadmium compounds as chemicals known to the State to cause
cancer and reproductive toxicity.
This year, dozens of bills in many states were introduced to
regulate cadmium in children's products following findings of
cadmium in products in the United States. At least three bills
have been signed into law. Connecticut's H.B. 5314 bans
children's jewelry if it contains cadmium at more than .0075
percent by weight (75 ppm). Illinois' H.B. 5040 and
Minnesota's S.F. 2510 ban children's jewelry if it contains
cadmium in excess of 75 ppm soluble in any accessible part of
the product. In 2008, as part of a broader "Toxic Toys" law,
Washington enacted a ban on children's products, including
jewelry that contain more than 40 ppm cadmium by weight. This
bill proposes a 300 ppm by weight standard, which may represent
a higher level of exposure to children than is allowed by the
standards adopted in other states.
In addition to federal and other states' action on cadmium in
children's products, in 2005 California's Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) reviewed cadmium
to develop a child-specific reference dose (chRD), which was
intended for use in the risk assessment of California school
sites. OEHHA determined that .011 microgram/kilogram-day was
the appropriate chRD for cadmium, which, when adjusting for
exposure, appears to be significantly more protective of
children's health than the 300 ppm proposed by this bill.
As part of the California Green Chemistry Initiative, the
Governor signed AB 1879 (Feuer and Huffman) Chapter 559,
Statutes of 2008, into law in 2009. The Green Chemistry program
should yield a comprehensive process to identify and regulate
chemicals of concern in consumer products; however, regulations
are not yet finalized and chemicals are not yet being
considered. This bill authorizes DTSC to both take action on
cadmium-containing children's jewelry within the Green Chemistry
process and to set a more stringent standard for
cadmium-containing children's jewelry in a process external to
Green Chemistry review.
SB 929
Page 4
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney/ E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0006118