New Amendments to California's Proposition 65: Warning Requirements Effective August 30, 2018

Abstract

New Amendments to California's Proposition 65 regulations will impact clients that manufacture, package, import, supply, or distribute products that may end up being sold in California, where those products are subject to the warning requirements of Proposition 65. Over my years of practice, I have had multiple clients headquartered in Pennsylvania or regionally that manufacture, distribute, or sell products needing to comply with Proposition 65, and so closely follow Proposition 65 developments. California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, a/k/a "Proposition 65," Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 25249.5-25249.14, is a law passed in 1986 as a result of a voter referendum. It seeks to protect the State's drinking water sources from contamination by chemicals determined by the State to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm, and it requires businesses to inform consumers about exposures to such chemicals via contact with consumer products sold in California, or via occupational or environmental exposure. The Proposition and its implementing regulations require the State of California to update annually a list of chemicals that the State has determined to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The List currently contains some 900 chemicals.