Last month, we wrote about the toxic chemicals legislation bouncing between the Vermont House and Senate (click here for our prior post). On May 9, 2014, the Vermont Legislature gave final approval to the bill, S.239, which gives the Vermont Department of Health the authority to require manufacturers to report, label, and remove chemicals it considers harmful from products for children. The Senate voted 26-3 to concur with the scaled-back House version of the bill, ultimately limiting the scope of the bill by omitting the phrase "or any consumer product whose substantial use or handling by children under 12 years of age is reasonably foreseeable." Governor Shumlin is expected to sign the bill in the next few weeks. The law will then take effect immediately.
Key deadlines include:
- The health commissioner must submit a budget for implementation of the bill by January 15, 2015.
- Manufacturers must notify the health department of any of the 66 chemicals on the "watch list" in their children's products by July 1, 2015.
- The health commissioner will publish a detailed description of the rule-making procedure by July 1, 2017.
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