California slates chemicals legislation

The California Senate will consider at least three chemical policy bills in 2007, a state legislative aide told reporters on Dec. 12. California Sen. Joe Simitian (D), chairman of the state Senate Environmental Quality Committee, plans to introduce the bills by Feb. 15, 2007, said Bruce Jennings, senior consultant to the panel. Jennings spoke to reporters after giving a presentation to an Austin, Texas, conference on characterizing chemicals in commerce, sponsored by EPA and the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association. One of Simitian's bills would help downstream users of substances obtain chemical information about the materials they purchase, Jennings said. In part, this would help California manufacturers who export goods containing chemicals to comply with the European Union's new legislation on the Registration, Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals (REACH). Another Simitian measure would create a clearinghouse for databases on chemicals that would allow users to link to a variety of sources for toxicity and other chemical data, Jennings said. A third bill would establish a broad new chemicals policy in California, but Jennings declined to elaborate on any specifics.