Federal Bill Preempting California Green Chemistry Protections
SACRAMENTO – Assembly member Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay) has introduced a resolution denouncing a congressional effort to sidestep robust state laws protecting Californians from harmful chemicals. Assembly Joint Resolution urges the President and Congress to object to the current version of the Chemical Safety and Improvement Act (S. 1009), which includes broad preemption provisions that prevent states from acting to address risks of potentially toxic substances.
“Time and again, California voters have expressed their desire for policies that require transparency about chemicals in consumer products, as well as vigorous evaluation of risk and firm restrictions on verified toxic substances,” said Stone. “This federal effort is clearly a blatant attempt to circumvent the strong protections that California voters approved.”
S. 1009, jointly introduced by Senators Frank Lautenburg (D-NJ) and David Vitter (R-LA), was heard in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on July 31.
California has a long history of enacting laws to protect its citizens from potentially hazardous chemicals. In 1986, California voters overwhelmingly passed The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act through Proposition 65 in order to decrease California’s exposure to toxic substances known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm by requiring labeling of consumer products containing these toxic substances. In 2008, the Legislature passed legislation establishing the Green Chemistry Program, in order to decrease California’s exposure to toxic substances by identifying and prioritizing chemicals of concern and evaluating safer alternatives to toxic chemicals through a science-based approach.