BILL NUMBER: AJR 30 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Stone
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Atkins, Fong, Rendon, and
Williams)
( Coauthor: Senator
Pavley Coauthors: Senators
DeSaulnier and Pavley )
AUGUST 6, 2013
Relative to the federal Chemical Safety Improvement Act.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 30, as amended, Stone. Federal Chemical Safety Improvement
Act.
This measure would memorialize the Congress and the President of
the United States to respect the rights of states to protect the
health of their citizens, including children and pregnant women, and
to not enact the federal Chemical Safety Improvement Act in its
current form containing provisions that provide for the preemption of
a state's authority to protect the public from toxic substances
and other harmful chemicals.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, California has historically acted in advance of the
federal government to protect its citizens, including vulnerable
subpopulations such as children and pregnant women, against the harms
of exposure to toxic substances in consumer products
and other harmful chemicals through strong
environmental laws and regulations, which have also driven innovation
in the development of safer products; and
WHEREAS, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 65,
which added the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of
1986 (Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 25249.5) of Division 20 of
the Health and Safety Code), 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; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature enacted Article 14 (commencing with
Section 25251) of Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety
Code, which is otherwise known as the Green Chemistry program, in
2008, to identify and prioritize chemicals of concern and evaluate
safer alternatives to toxic chemicals through a science-based
approach; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature enacted the California Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500)
of the Health and Safety Code), a first-in-the-world comprehensive
program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve quantifiable
and cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gases; and
WHEREAS, The State Air Resources Board adopted regulations,
beginning in 1991 and continuing as recently as 2013 (see, for
example, Section 94509 of Title 17 of the California Code of
Regulations), to reduce the volatile organic compounds emissions from
consumer products because these compounds produce
contribute to the formation of ozone and particulate
matter that exacerbates respiratory diseases such as asthma; and
WHEREAS, The current version of the federal Chemical Safety
Improvement Act (Sen. No. 1009) has broad preemption provisions that
prevent states from acting to address potential risks of toxic
substances and other harmful chemicals, as well as from
exercising state enforcement powers that put at risk several
California programs that protect public health, including those
listed above, among others; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature memorializes the Congress
and the President of the United States to respect the rights of
states to protect the health of their citizens, including children
and pregnant women, and to not enact the federal Chemical Safety
Improvement Act (Sen. No. 1009) in its current form containing
provisions that provide for the preemption of a state's authority to
protect the public, including from toxic substances and other
harmful chemicals; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate
Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution
to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of
the Senate, to the authors of Senate Bill No. 1009, to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.