As we reported, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) seeks to significantly amend the regulations under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (aka "Proposition 65") to revise the method of transmission and content of State-approved "safe harbor" short-form warnings for consumer products. If passed as proposed, manufacturers, distributors and downstream retailers would need to identify "at least one" regulated chemical in each "exposure category" (i.e., carcinogens and / or reproductive toxicants) in their short form warning. This would require significant restructuring for thousands of regulated companies, including increased need for testing, etc.
After initiating the 60-day comment period, OEHHA received a request from a stakeholder company to hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments. OEHHA has now scheduled a public remote hearing on March 11, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Information concerning how to participate in the hearing will be posted on OEHHA's website prior to the hearing. The public comment period for this regulatory action is also being extended to March 29, 2021, to accommodate the hearing.
If your company is using (or relying upon) current "short form" safe harbor warnings which do not list any specific chemicals, you will want to track this regulatory process and its outcome.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
