Bill Text: NY A06041 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Relates to jewelry containing lead.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-12-16 - APPROVAL MEMO.56 [A06041 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A06041-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          6041
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 26, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M. of A. RYAN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Environmental Conservation
        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          jewelry containing lead
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The  legislature  hereby  finds  that
     2  stringent  controls  on  the  amount of lead in jewelry are necessary to
     3  protect public health,  especially  the  health  of  children.    Random
     4  samples  of  jewelry  in New York state have been found to contain up to
     5  60,000 parts per million of lead. To assure  consistent  application  of
     6  these controls to all jewelry, specific technical standards and controls
     7  must be specified.
     8    §  2.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
     9  section 37-0115 to read as follows:
    10  § 37-0115. Lead-containing jewelry.
    11    For purposes of this section,  the  following  terms  shall  have  the
    12  following definitions:
    13    1.  "Body piercing jewelry" means any part of jewelry that is manufac-
    14  tured or sold for placement in a new piercing or a mucous membrane,  but
    15  does  not  include  any part of that jewelry that is not placed within a
    16  new piercing or a mucous membrane.
    17    2. "Children" means children under the age of twelve.
    18    3. "Children's jewelry" means jewelry that is made for,  marketed  for
    19  use  by, or marketed to, children and includes jewelry that meets any of
    20  the following conditions:
    21    (a) Represented in its packaging, display, or advertising,  as  appro-
    22  priate for use by children.
    23    (b)  Sold  in conjunction with, attached to, or packaged together with
    24  other products that are packaged, displayed, or advertised as  appropri-
    25  ate for use by children.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08023-01-9

        A. 6041                             2
     1    (c) Sized for children and not intended for use by adults.
     2    (d) Sold in any of the following:
     3    (1) A vending machine.
     4    (2)  Retail  store,  catalogue,  or online web site, in which a person
     5  exclusively offers for sale products that are  packaged,  displayed,  or
     6  advertised as appropriate for use by children.
     7    (3)  A  discrete  portion  of a retail store, catalogue, or online web
     8  site, in which a person offers for  sale  products  that  are  packaged,
     9  displayed, or advertised as appropriate for use by children.
    10    4. "Jewelry" means any of the following ornaments worn by a person:
    11    (a) ankle bracelet;
    12    (b) arm cuff;
    13    (c) bracelet;
    14    (d) brooch;
    15    (e) chain;
    16    (f) crown;
    17    (g) cuff link;
    18    (h) hair accessory;
    19    (i) earring;
    20    (j) necklace;
    21    (k) decorative pin;
    22    (l) ring;
    23    (m) body piercing jewelry;
    24    (n) jewelry placed in the mouth for display or ornament;
    25    (o)  any  charm, bead, chain, link, pendant, or other component of the
    26  items listed in this definition;
    27    (p) a charm, bead, chain, link, pendant, or other attachment to  shoes
    28  or  clothing  that  can  be removed and may be used as a component of an
    29  item listed in this definition;
    30    (q) a watch in which a timepiece is a component of an item  listed  in
    31  this  definition, excluding the timepiece itself if the timepiece can be
    32  removed from the ornament.
    33    5. Effective January first, two thousand twenty-one,  no  manufacturer
    34  shall  sell,  or offer for sale, children's jewelry that contain a total
    35  lead content in any component part of the item that is more than  0.004%
    36  (40  parts  per  million) but less than 0.06% (600 parts per million) by
    37  total weight or a lower standard for lead content as may be  established
    38  by  federal or state law or rule unless that item bears a warning state-
    39  ment that indicates that  at  least  one  component  part  of  the  item
    40  contains lead.
    41    The  warning  statement  for children's jewelry shall contain at least
    42  the following: "WARNING: CONTAINS LEAD.  MAY  BE  HARMFUL  IF  EATEN  OR
    43  CHEWED.  COMPLIES WITH FEDERAL STANDARDS."
    44    A  manufacturer  is in compliance if the warning statement is provided
    45  on the children's jewelry or on the label on the immediate container  of
    46  the children's jewelry.
    47    The  warning  statement  requirement  does not apply to any children's
    48  jewelry:
    49    (a) for which federal law governs warning in a  manner  that  preempts
    50  state authority;
    51    (b)  if  the component parts of the children's jewelry containing lead
    52  are inaccessible to a child through normal  and  reasonably  foreseeable
    53  use  and  abuse  as defined by the United States Consumer Product Safety
    54  Commission;

        A. 6041                             3
     1    (c) if the component parts in question  are  exempt  from  third-party
     2  testing  as  determined  by  the  United  States Consumer Product Safety
     3  Commission; or
     4    (d) to children's jewelry resold or offered for resale, or distributed
     5  by consumers for consumer use.
     6    §  3.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
     7  section 71-3705 to read as follows:
     8  § 71-3705. Enforcement of section 37-0115.
     9    1. Any person who violates any provision of or fails  to  perform  any
    10  duty  imposed  by  section  37-0115 of this chapter shall upon the first
    11  finding of such a violation be liable for a civil penalty not to  exceed
    12  five hundred dollars for each  violation.  Any  person  convicted  of  a
    13  second  or  subsequent violation shall be liable for a civil penalty not
    14  to exceed twenty-five hundred dollars for each violation.
    15    2. Penalties under this section shall be assessed by the  commissioner
    16  after  a  hearing  pursuant to the provisions of section 71-1709 of this
    17  article. In assessing the penalty under this section,  the  commissioner
    18  shall  consider:  the nature and extent of the violation; the number and
    19  severity of the violations; the economic effect of the  penalty  on  the
    20  violator;  whether  the violator took good faith measures to comply with
    21  this chapter; the willfulness of the violator's misconduct;  the  deter-
    22  rent  effect  that  the imposition of the penalty would have on both the
    23  violator and the regulated community as a whole; and other factors  that
    24  the  commissioner  deems  appropriate and relevant.  Any person found to
    25  have violated section 37-0115 of  this  chapter  may  be  enjoined  from
    26  continuing such violation.
    27    3.  All  civil  penalties  and  fines  collected  for any violation of
    28  section 37-0115 of this chapter shall be paid over to  the  commissioner
    29  for  deposit in the environmental protection fund established by section
    30  ninety-two-s of the state finance law.
    31    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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