E2SHB 2647 -
By Committee on Water, Energy & Telecommunications
ADOPTED AND ENGROSSED 03/07/08
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 Research shows that many toys and other
children's products contain toxic chemicals, such as lead, cadmium, and
phthalates that have been shown to cause harm to children's health and
the environment. These chemicals have been linked to long-term health
impacts, such as birth defects, reproductive harm, impaired learning,
liver toxicity, and cancer. Because children's bodies are growing and
developing, they are especially vulnerable to the effects of toxic
chemicals. Regulation of toxic chemicals in children's toys and other
products is woefully inadequate. To protect children's health, it is
important to phase out the use of lead, cadmium, and phthalates in
children's toys and other products and to begin collecting information
on other chemicals that are present in toys and other products to
determine whether further action is required.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 The definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Children's cosmetics" means cosmetics that are made for,
marketed for use by, or marketed to children under the age of twelve.
"Children's cosmetics" includes cosmetics that meet any of the
following conditions:
(a) Represented in its packaging, display, or advertising as
appropriate for use by children;
(b) Sold in conjunction with, attached to, or packaged together
with other products that are packaged, displayed, or advertised as
appropriate for use by children; or
(c) Sold in any of the following:
(i) Retail store, catalogue, or online web site, in which a person
exclusively offers for sale products that are packaged, displayed, or
advertised as appropriate for use by children; or
(ii) A discrete portion of a retail store, catalogue, or online web
site, in which a person offers for sale products that are packaged,
displayed, or advertised as appropriate for use by children.
(2) "Children's jewelry" means jewelry that is made for, marketed
for use by, or marketed to children under the age of twelve.
"Children's jewelry" includes jewelry that meets any of the following
conditions:
(a) Represented in its packaging, display, or advertising as
appropriate for use by children under the age of twelve;
(b) Sold in conjunction with, attached to, or packaged together
with other products that are packaged, displayed, or advertised as
appropriate for use by children;
(c) Sized for children and not intended for use by adults; or
(d) Sold in any of the following:
(i) A vending machine;
(ii) Retail store, catalogue, or online web site, in which a person
exclusively offers for sale products that are packaged, displayed, or
advertised as appropriate for use by children; or
(iii) A discrete portion of a retail store, catalogue, or online
web site, in which a person offers for sale products that are packaged,
displayed, or advertised as appropriate for use by children.
(3)(a) "Children's product" includes any of the following:
(i) Toys;
(ii) Children's cosmetics;
(iii) Children's jewelry;
(iv) A product designed or intended by the manufacturer to help a
child with sucking or teething, to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the
feeding of a child, or to be worn as clothing by children; or
(v) Child car seats.
(b) "Children's product" does not include the following:
(i) Batteries;
(ii) Slings and catapults;
(iii) Sets of darts with metallic points;
(iv) Toy steam engines;
(v) Bicycles and tricycles;
(vi) Video toys that can be connected to a video screen and are
operated at a nominal voltage exceeding twenty-four volts;
(vii) Chemistry sets;
(viii) Consumer electronic products, including but not limited to
personal computers, audio and video equipment, calculators, wireless
phones, game consoles, and handheld devices incorporating a video
screen, used to access interactive software and their associated
peripherals;
(ix) Interactive software, intended for leisure and entertainment,
such as computer games, and their storage media, such as compact disks;
(x) BB guns, pellet guns, and air rifles;
(xi) Snow sporting equipment, including skis, poles, boots, snow
boards, sleds, and bindings;
(xii) Sporting equipment, including, but not limited to bats,
balls, gloves, sticks, pucks, and pads;
(xiii) Roller skates;
(xiv) Scooters;
(xv) Model rockets;
(xvi) Athletic shoes with cleats or spikes; and
(xvii) Pocket knives and multitools.
(4) "Cosmetics" includes articles intended to be rubbed, poured,
sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the
human body or any part thereof for cleansing, beautifying, promoting
attractiveness, or altering the appearance, and articles intended for
use as a component of such an article. "Cosmetics" does not include
soap, dietary supplements, or food and drugs approved by the United
States food and drug administration.
(5) "Department" means the department of ecology.
(6) "High priority chemical" means a chemical identified by a state
agency, federal agency, or accredited research university, or other
scientific evidence deemed authoritative by the department on the basis
of credible scientific evidence as known to do one or more of the
following:
(a) Harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other
developmental toxicity;
(b) Cause cancer, genetic damage, or reproductive harm;
(c) Disrupt the endocrine system;
(d) Damage the nervous system, immune system, or organs or cause
other systemic toxicity;
(e) Be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic; or
(f) Be very persistent and very bioaccumulative.
(7) "Manufacturer" includes any person, firm, association,
partnership, corporation, governmental entity, organization, or joint
venture that produces a children's product or an importer or domestic
distributor of a children's product. For the purposes of this
subsection, "importer" means the owner of the children's product.
(8) "Phthalates" means di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl
phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), diisonoyl phthalate
(DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), or di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP).
(9) "Toy" means a product designed or intended by the manufacturer
to be used by a child at play.
(10) "Trade association" means a membership organization of persons
engaging in a similar or related line of commerce, organized to promote
and improve business conditions in that line of commerce and not to
engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for
profit.
(11) "Very bioaccumulative" means having a bioconcentration factor
or bioaccumulation factor greater than or equal to five thousand, or if
neither are available, having a log Kow greater than 5.0.
(12) "Very persistent" means having a half-life greater than or
equal to one of the following:
(a) A half-life in soil or sediment of greater than one hundred
eighty days;
(b) A half-life greater than or equal to sixty days in water or
evidence of long-range transport.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 (1) Beginning July 1, 2009, no manufacturer,
wholesaler, or retailer may manufacture, knowingly sell, offer for
sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in this state a
children's product or product component containing the following:
(a) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, lead at
more than .009 percent by weight (ninety parts per million);
(b) Cadmium at more than .004 percent by weight (forty parts per
million); or
(c) Phthalates, individually or in combination, at more than 0.10
percent by weight (one thousand parts per million).
(2) If determined feasible for manufacturers to achieve and
necessary to protect children's health, the department, in consultation
with the department of health, may by rule require that no
manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer may manufacture, knowingly sell,
offer for sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in this
state a children's product or product component containing lead at more
than .004 percent by weight (forty parts per million).
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 (1) By January 1, 2009, the department, in
consultation with the department of health, shall identify high
priority chemicals that are of high concern for children after
considering a child's or developing fetus's potential for exposure to
each chemical. In identifying the chemicals, the department shall
include chemicals that meet one or more of the following criteria:
(a) The chemical has been found through biomonitoring studies that
demonstrate the presence of the chemical in human umbilical cord blood,
human breast milk, human urine, or other bodily tissues or fluids;
(b) The chemical has been found through sampling and analysis to be
present in household dust, indoor air, drinking water, or elsewhere in
the home environment; or
(c) The chemical has been added to or is present in a consumer
product used or present in the home.
(2) By January 1, 2009, the department shall identify children's
products or product categories that may contain chemicals identified
under subsection (1) of this section.
(3) By January 1, 2009, the department shall submit a report on the
chemicals of high concern to children and the children's products or
product categories they identify to the appropriate standing committees
of the legislature. The report shall include policy options for
addressing children's products that contain chemicals of high concern
for children, including recommendations for additional ways to inform
consumers about toxic chemicals in products, such as labeling.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 Beginning six months after the department
has adopted rules under section 8(5) of this act, a manufacturer of a
children's product, or a trade organization on behalf of its member
manufacturers, shall provide notice to the department that the
manufacturer's product contains a high priority chemical. The notice
must be filed annually with the department and must include the
following information:
(1) The name of the chemical used or produced and its chemical
abstracts service registry number;
(2) A brief description of the product or product component
containing the substance;
(3) A description of the function of the chemical in the product;
(4) The amount of the chemical used in each unit of the product or
product component. The amount may be reported in ranges, rather than
the exact amount;
(5) The name and address of the manufacturer and the name, address,
and phone number of a contact person for the manufacturer; and
(6) Any other information the manufacturer deems relevant to the
appropriate use of the product.
Sec. 6 RCW 43.70.660 and 2001 c 257 s 2 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The legislature authorizes the secretary to establish and
maintain a product safety education campaign to promote greater
awareness of products designed to be used by infants and children((,
excluding toys,)) that:
(a) Are recalled by the United States consumer products safety
commission;
(b) Do not meet federal safety regulations and voluntary safety
standards; ((or))
(c) Are unsafe or illegal to place into the stream of commerce
under the infant crib safety act, chapter 70.111 RCW; or
(d) Contain chemicals of high concern for children as identified
under section 4 of this act.
(2) The department shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that
this infant and children product safety education campaign reaches the
target population. The target population for this campaign includes,
but is not limited to, parents, foster parents and other caregivers,
child care providers, consignment and resale stores selling infant and
child products, and charitable and governmental entities serving
infants, children, and families.
(3) The secretary may utilize a combination of methods to achieve
this outreach and education goal, including but not limited to print
and electronic media. The secretary may operate the campaign or may
contract with a vendor.
(4) The department shall coordinate this infant and children
product safety education campaign with child-serving entities
including, but not limited to, hospitals, birthing centers, midwives,
pediatricians, obstetricians, family practice physicians, governmental
and private entities serving infants, children, and families, and
relevant manufacturers.
(5) The department shall coordinate with other agencies and
entities to eliminate duplication of effort in disseminating infant and
children consumer product safety information.
(6) The department may receive funding for this infant and children
product safety education effort from federal, state, and local
governmental entities, child-serving foundations, or other private
sources.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 (1) A manufacturer of products that are
restricted under this chapter must notify persons that sell the
manufacturer's products in this state about the provisions of this
chapter no less than ninety days prior to the effective date of the
restrictions.
(2) A manufacturer that produces, sells, or distributes a product
prohibited from manufacture, sale, or distribution in this state under
this chapter shall recall the product and reimburse the retailer or any
other purchaser for the product.
(3) A manufacturer of children's products in violation of this
chapter is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand
dollars for each violation in the case of a first offense.
Manufacturers who are repeat violators are subject to a civil penalty
not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each repeat offense. Penalties
collected under this section must be deposited in the state toxics
control account created in RCW 70.l05D.070.
(4) Retailers who unknowingly sell products that are restricted
from sale under this chapter are not liable under this chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8 (1) Before the prohibitions under section 3
of this act take effect, the department shall prepare and distribute
information to in-state and out-of-state manufacturers, to the maximum
extent practicable, to assist them in identifying products prohibited
for manufacture, sale, or distribution under this chapter.
(2) The department must assist in-state retailers in identifying
products restricted under this chapter.
(3) The department may require manufacturers to electronically file
the notice required under section 5 of this act to the department that
the manufacturer's product contains a high priority chemical.
(4) The department shall develop and publish a web site that
provides consumers with information on the chemicals used in children's
products, the reason the chemical has been identified as a high
priority chemical, and any safer alternatives to the chemical.
(5) The department shall adopt rules to finalize the list of high
priority chemicals that are of high concern for children identified in
section 4(1) of this act by January 1, 2010.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9 The department may adopt rules as necessary
for the purpose of implementing, administering, and enforcing this
chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 10 Sections 1 through 5 and 7 through 9 of
this act constitute a new chapter in Title
NEW SECTION. Sec. 11 If specific funding for the purposes of
this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not
provided by June 30, 2008, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act
is null and void."
E2SHB 2647 -
By Committee on Water, Energy & Telecommunications
ADOPTED 03/07/08
On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "act;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 43.70.660; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties."