BILL NUMBER: SB 1313 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
An act to add Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 108940) to Part
3 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to product
safety.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1313, as introduced, Corbett. Product safety:
perfluorochemicals.
Existing law prohibits the manufacture, processing, and
distribution in commerce in commerce of any food contract substance,
as defined, containing certain chemicals found to raise health risks,
including polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
This bill would, commencing January 1, 2010, prohibit the
manufacture, sale, or distribution of products containing
perfluorooctane sulfonate acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic (PFOA),
higher homologues, or precursors to these chemicals, in
concentrations exceeding 0.1%.
This bill would also require manufacturers to use nontoxic
alternatives when replacing perfluorochemicals (PFCs) or their
precursors in their products, and would prohibit manufacturers from
replacing PFCs with certain carcinogens and reproductive toxins. The
bill would impose specified civil penalties for violations of those
provisions. The bill would require that civil penalties collected be
deposited in the Hazardous Waste Control Account, for expenditure by
the Department of Toxic Substances Control, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to implement and enforce those provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 108940) is added to
Part 3 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER 12. PERFLUOROCHEMICALS (PFCS)
108940. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) and their precursors have been used
in the manufacture of stain- and grease-proof coatings for a wide
variety of consumer products for more than half a century, and are
now found in human blood and wildlife worldwide.
(b) PFCs and precursor chemicals that break down into PFCs in the
body, wildlife, or the environment are used as food contact
substances that represent potential sources of dietary exposure to
these chemicals.
(c) Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of two
particular perfluorochemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in more than 98 percent of Americans'
blood, and 100 percent of 293 newborns surveyed.
(d) PFOA is considered by the federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Panel to be a likely carcinogen and is
considered a chemical that induces breast tumors in animals. In
addition, PFOA and PFOS have been linked to impaired growth of babies
in the womb.
(e) Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists note
that food packaging represents the worst-case scenario for PFCs to
migrate into food. In one FDA study, food packaging released several
hundred times more PFCs than did cookware coated with substances like
Teflon.
(f) The EPA has established a voluntary phase-out of certain
perfluorochemicals, including PFOA, that will go into effect in 2015.
PFOS was removed from the market by the only United States
manufacturer under pressure by the EPA in 2001.
(g) It is in the best interest of California to eliminate the use
of dangerous perfluorochemicals and their precursors in food
packaging, as soon as reasonably possible.
108941. (a) For the purposes of this chapter "Food contact
substance" is any substance that directly contacts food, and is
intended for use as a component of materials used in manufacturing,
packing, packaging, transporting, or holding food if that use is not
intended to have a technical effect in the food.
(b) "Precursor" is any chemical that may reasonably be expected to
break down into perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane
sulfonate (PFOS), or higher homologues, in the human body, animals,
or the environment. When definitive test data are not available,
precursors are assumed to include chemicals that contain within their
structure PFOA, PFOS, or higher homologues.
108942. (a) On or after January 1, 2010, no person or entity
shall manufacture, sell, or distribute in commerce any food contact
substance that contains perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS),
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), higher homologues, or precursors to
these chemicals, in any concentration exceeding 10 parts per billion
(ppb).
108943. (a) Manufacturers shall use nontoxic alternatives when
replacing perfluorochemicals or their precursors in accordance with
this chapter.
(b) Manufacturers shall not replace perfluorochemicals or their
precursors, pursuant to this chapter, with carcinogens rated by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency as A, B, or C
carcinogens, or substances listed as known or likely carcinogens,
known to be human carcinogens, likely to be human carcinogens, or
suggestive of being human carcinogens, as described in the "List of
Chemicals Evaluated for Carcinogenic Potential," or known to the
state to cause cancer as listed in the California Safe Drinking Water
Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270) of Part 12).
(c) Manufacturers shall not replace perfluorochemicals or their
precursors, pursuant to this chapter, with reproductive toxicants
that cause birth defects, reproductive harm, or developmental harm as
identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or
listed in the California Safe Drinking Water Act (Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 116270) of Part 12).
(d) (1) A person who violates this chapter shall be liable for a
civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars
($2,500) per day for each violation. That civil penalty may be
assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in any court of
competent jurisdiction. The civil action may be brought by the
attorney general, district attorney, county counsel, or city
attorney.
(2) In assessing the amount of a civil penalty for a violation of
this chapter, the court shall consider all of the following:
(A) The nature and extent of the violation.
(B) The number of, and severity of, the violations.
(C) The economic effect of the penalty on the violator.
(D) Whether the violator took good faith measures to comply with
this article and the time these measures were taken.
(E) The willfulness of the violator's misconduct.
(F) The deterrent effect that the imposition of the penalty would
have on both the violator and the regulated community as a whole.
(G) Any other factor that justice may require.
(e) All civil penalties collected pursuant to this chapter shall
be deposited in the Hazardous Waste Control Account, for expenditure
by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to
implement and enforce this chapter.