BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 646
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 17, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    SB 646 (Pavley) - As Amended:  June 20, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                             Environmental 
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 7-2

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

           SUMMARY  

          This bill extends to all parties enforcement provisions of the 
          Metal-Containing Jewelry Law.  Specifically, this bill deletes 
          from existing statute provisions that exempt from the 
          enforcement provisions of the Metal-Containing Jewelry Law a 
          party that is a signatory to the consent judgment, People vs. 
          Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation, et al., or to 
          substantially similar judgments.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Negligible costs to the Department of Toxic Substances Control 
            (DTSC), which currently inspects jewelry retailers, importers 
            and suppliers that are signatories to the judgment and those 
            that are not.

          2)Potential increased penalty revenue of an unknown amount 
            resulting from enforcement activity against signatories who 
            violate the Metal-Containing Jewelry Law.  (Special fund.)

           COMMENTS  

          1)Rationale  .  The author intends this bill to close what she 
            describes as a loophole in the Metal-Containing Jewelry Law, 
            which prevents DTSC from taking enforcement actions against 
            signatories to the consent judgment.  The author notes that an 
            increasing number of entities are becoming signatories to 
            judgments similar to the consent judgment, thereby avoiding 
            enforcement actions for violation of the Metal-Containing 
            Jewelry Law, including penalties.









                                                                  SB 646
                                                                  Page  2

           2)Background.   AB 1681 (Pavley, Chapter 415, Statutes of 2006) 
            created the Lead-Containing Jewelry Law, which prohibited the 
            manufacture, shipping, sale or offering for sale of jewelry, 
            children's jewelry, or jewelry used in body piercing that is 
            made from materials with more than specified levels of lead.  
            AB 2901 (Brownley, Chapter 575, Statutes of 2008), 
            strengthened and expanded DTSC's enforcement authority for the 
            Lead-Containing Jewelry Law.  SB 929 (Pavley, Chapter 313, 
            Statutes of 2010) added prohibitions for jewelry containing 
            cadmium, at which point the statute became known as the 
            Metal-Containing Jewelry Law.  Under the law, DTSC may impose 
            an administrative or civil penalty against violators of the 
            Metal-Containing Jewelry Law, not to exceed $2,500 per day for 
            each violation.

            AB 1681 was developed concurrent with a settlement between the 
            Attorney General and several California retailers regarding 
            the retailers' jewelry sales practices.  The author intended 
            AB 1681 to apply the same standard to all retailers as were 
            applied in the AG settlement or a later, substantially 
            identical settlement.  However, the terms of the judgment 
            subject signatories to enforcement only by the AG, not DTSC.  
            The effect is dual-track enforcement with an increasing number 
            of parties becoming signatories, thereby becoming exempt from 
            DTSC enforcement of the Metal-Containing Jewelry Law

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