The California Apartment Association is taking a close look at proposed revisions to Proposition 65 warning regulations.
Released Jan. 16 by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the revisions are intended to provide more information to consumers and other members of the public.
Enacted by voters in 1986, Proposition 65 requires businesses with 10 or more employees to provide warnings prior to exposing any person to chemicals that cause cancer and or reproductive toxicity.
While the current proposal is less onerous for the rental housing industry than the earlier version, significant issues remain, both with the proposed regulations and Proposition 65 in general.
In addition to analyzing the regulations, CAA will continue to work with its partners, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, and submit comments where necessary.
Enacted by voters in 1986, Proposition 65 requires businesses with 10 or more employees to provide warnings prior to exposing any person to chemicals that cause cancer and or reproductive toxicity.
While Proposition 65 has motivated businesses to eliminate or reduce toxic chemicals in consumer products, it is also abused by some lawyers. Such attorneys bring nuisance lawsuits to extract settlements from businesses with little or no benefit to the public or the environment. Since 2008, nearly 2,000 complaints have been filed by these “citizen enforcers.”
Although compliance with the regulations is technically voluntary, and businesses are free to design their own warning programs, OEHHA’s current regulations provide the only guidance on complying with Proposition 65. OEHHA’s new proposal deviates in several significant ways from CAA’s current recommended warning scheme.
In late 2014, CAA submitted comments on OEHHA’s proposal. The Jan. 16 amended regulations were modified significantly in response to CAA’s comments and those of other business members of the regulated community. As requested by CAA, provisions that proposed creating a specific warning scheme for apartments were deleted as was a requirement that owners of every property provide and regularly update reams of data supporting its warnings to OEHHA.
CAA recommends that its members continue to comply with the recommended warning program outlined at the link below. This is a combination of posting signs and distributing brochures, which varies depending on the size of the property. This program was developed by CAA’s attorneys based on the warning provisions in the state regulations that are currently in effect. While the proposed regulations does change that voluntary provisions in some respects, those warning provisions would not take effect until two years after the final regulations.
Proposition 65 posting instructions