Bill Text: CA AB597 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Hazardous materials: chemicals of concern.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB597 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB597-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 597 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dahle
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to amend Section 25252 25253
of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 597, as amended, Dahle. Hazardous materials: chemicals of
concern.
Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control
to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and
prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products, to
establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer
products and their potential alternatives for the purposes of
limiting exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by chemicals
of concern, and a range of regulatory responses that the department
may take following the evaluation.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change
to these provisions prohibit the department from
taking a regulatory response until an unspecified number of days
after the date that the department submits a notice to the
consumer product manufacturer, the consumer product distributor, and
the consumer product retailer of the proposed action .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25253 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
25253. (a) (1) On or before January 1, 2011, the department shall
adopt regulations pursuant to this section that establish a process
for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer products, and their
potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure or to
reduce the level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern, in
accordance with the review process specified in Section 25252.5. The
department shall adopt these regulations in consultation with all
appropriate state agencies and after conducting one or more public
workshops for which the department provides public notice and
provides an opportunity for all interested parties to comment.
(2) The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall
establish a process that includes an evaluation of the availability
of potential alternatives and potential hazards posed by those
alternatives, as well as an evaluation of critical exposure pathways.
This process shall include life cycle assessment tools that take
into consideration, but shall not be limited to, all of the
following:
(A) Product function or performance.
(B) Useful life.
(C) Materials and resource consumption.
(D) Water conservation.
(E) Water quality impacts.
(F) Air emissions.
(G) Production, in-use, and transportation energy inputs.
(H) Energy efficiency.
(I) Greenhouse gas emissions.
(J) Waste and end-of-life disposal.
(K) Public health impacts, including potential impacts to
sensitive subpopulations, including infants and children.
(L) Environmental impacts.
(M) Economic impacts.
(b) The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall specify
the range of regulatory responses that the department may take
following the completion of the alternatives analysis, including, but
not limited to, any of the following actions:
(1) Not requiring any action.
(2) Imposing requirements to provide additional information needed
to assess a chemical of concern and its potential alternatives.
(3) Imposing requirements on the labeling or other type of
consumer product information.
(4) Imposing a restriction on the use of the chemical of concern
in the consumer product.
(5) Prohibiting the use of the chemical of concern in the consumer
product.
(6) Imposing requirements that control access to or limit
exposure to the chemical of concern in the consumer product.
(7) Imposing requirements for the manufacturer to manage the
product at the end of its useful life, including recycling or
responsible disposal of the consumer product.
(8) Imposing a requirement to fund green chemistry challenge
grants where no feasible safer alternative exists.
(9) Any other outcome the department determines accomplishes the
requirements of this article.
(c) The department shall not take an action specified in
paragraphs (2) to (9), inclusive, of subdivision (b) until____ days
after the date that the department submits a notice to the consumer
product manufacturer, the consumer product distributor, and the
consumer product retailer of the proposed action.
(c)
(d) The department, in developing the processes and
regulations pursuant to this section, shall ensure that the tools
available are in a form that allows for ease of use and transparency
of application. The department shall also make every feasible effort
to devise simplified and accessible tools that consumer product
manufacturers, consumer product distributors, consumer
product retailers, and consumers can use to make consumer product
manufacturing, sales, and purchase decisions.
SECTION 1. Section 25252 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
25252. (a) The department shall adopt regulations to establish a
process to identify and prioritize those chemicals or chemical
ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being a
chemical of concern, in accordance with the review process specified
in Section 25252.5. The department shall adopt these regulations in
consultation with the office and all appropriate state agencies and
after conducting one or more public workshops for which the
department provides public notice and provides an opportunity for all
interested parties to comment. The regulations adopted pursuant to
this section shall establish an identification and prioritization
process that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following
considerations:
(1) The volume of the chemical in commerce in this state.
(2) The potential for exposure to the chemical in a consumer
product.
(3) Potential effects on sensitive subpopulations, including
infants and children.
(b) (1) In adopting regulations pursuant to this section, the
department shall develop criteria by which chemicals and their
alternatives may be evaluated. These criteria shall include, but not
be limited to, the traits, characteristics, and endpoints that are
included in the clearinghouse data pursuant to Section 25256.1.
(2) In adopting regulations pursuant to this section, the
department shall reference and use, to the maximum extent feasible,
available information from other nations, governments, and
authoritative bodies that have undertaken similar chemical
prioritization processes, so as to leverage the work and costs
already incurred by those entities and to minimize costs and maximize
benefits for the state's economy.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not require the department, when adopting
regulations pursuant to this section, to reference and use only the
available information specified in paragraph (2).
