BILL REQ. #:  S-4006.2 

READ FIRST TIME 01/23/12.   

     AN ACT Relating to children's safe products; amending RCW 70.240.010; adding new sections to chapter 70.240 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 70.240.010 and 2008 c 288 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     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.
     (13) "TRIS" means either TDCPP (tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate), chemical abstracts service number 13674-87-8, as of the effective date of this section, or TCEP (tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate), chemical abstracts service number 115-96-8, as of the effective date of this section, or both.
     (14) "Alternative" means a substitute process, product, material, chemical, strategy, or combination of these that serve a functionally equivalent purpose to a chemical in a children's product.
     (15) "Chemical of high concern for children" means a chemical identified as required by RCW 70.240.030.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) Beginning July 1, 2014, 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 containing TRIS in amounts greater than fifty parts per million in any component.
     (2) The sale or purchase of any previously owned product containing TRIS made in casual or isolated sales as defined in RCW 82.04.040, or sales by nonprofit organizations, are exempt from subsection (1) of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) By January 1, 2014, the manufacturer of a children's product whose product contains TRIS shall submit to the department an alternatives assessment consistent with section 5 of this act.
     (2) Beginning August 31, 2013, the manufacturer of a children's product that has provided notice as required under RCW 70.240.040 that their product contains formaldehyde must, within one year of providing notice, submit to the department an alternatives assessment consistent with section 5 of this act.
     (3) Beginning August 31, 2014, the manufacturer of a children's product that has provided notice as required under RCW 70.240.040 that their product contains antimony or antimony compounds or bisphenol-a must, within one year of providing notice, submit to the department an alternatives assessment consistent with section 5 of this act.
     (4) A manufacturer required to conduct an alternatives assessment under this section may work with a trade association, other manufacturers, or third parties to complete and submit a single alternatives assessment.
     (5) A manufacturer of children's products with annual gross sales, both within and outside of Washington, of less than five million dollars, based on the manufacturer's most recent tax year filing, is exempt from the requirements of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The department must provide technical assistance to any manufacturer required to conduct an alternatives assessment that requests assistance. Technical assistance includes providing: Alternatives assessments previously submitted to the department; existing resources and tools for conducting alternatives assessments; information existing within the department gathered from literature reviews; informal manufacture's surveys; and information from the interstate chemicals clearinghouse.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   (1) An alternatives assessment must identify alternatives for consideration that reduce or eliminate the use of and potential for children's exposure to the chemical of high concern for children. For the chemical of high concern for children and each potential alternative, an alternatives assessment must include the following elements:
     (a) Chemical names and chemical abstracts service registry numbers;
     (b) An assessment of whether, based on credible scientific evidence, the alternative demonstrates the potential to do one or more of the following:
     (i) Harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other developmental toxicity;
     (ii) Cause cancer or genetic damage;
     (iii) Cause reproductive toxicity;
     (iv) Disrupt the endocrine system;
     (v) Damage the nervous system, immune system, or organs or cause other systemic toxicity;
     (vi) Cause sensitization and immune system response;
     (vii) Cause negative ecological impacts;
     (viii) Be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic; or
     (ix) Be very persistent and very bioaccumulative;
     (c) Available information or data, based on credible scientific evidence regarding:
     (i) The degree of toxicity including dose response studies; and
     (ii) Potential routes of exposure to children through which the chemical or alternative may cause each effect identified in (b)(i) through (vi) of this subsection;
     (d) Information on performance and functionality of the potential alternatives in product and materials addressed in the alternatives assessment; and
     (e) Opportunities for product reformulation, chemical substitution, product redesign, or manufacturing process redesign.
     (2) The alternatives assessment must include: (a) A comparison among alternatives and chemicals of high concern for children for the elements required in subsection (1)(b) through (e) of this subsection; (b) a description of the criteria and assumptions used to compare alternatives, including identification of data gaps; and (c) an explanation of the findings and conclusions of the supporting data for the alternatives assessment.
     (3) The manufacturer may provide any additional information that assisted in evaluating alternatives or deemed by the manufacturer relevant to the alternatives assessment, such as: Cost and availability of potential alternatives; purchase price differential between the product containing chemicals of high concern for children and the alternative; conditions of use; chemical management; and technical feasibility.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   (1) By July 1, 2015, the department, in consultation with the department of health, shall provide a report to the legislature summarizing and evaluating manufacturers' notices on chemicals of high concern for children and alternatives assessments required under section 5 of this act.
     (2) The report must include a summary of the information provided by manufacturers about the use of chemicals of high concern for children used in children's products; evidence of children's exposure to chemicals of high concern for children; opportunities for preventing children's exposure to chemicals of high concern for children; and results from completed alternatives assessments, including whether there are safer alternatives to the chemical of high concern for children. In addition, the report must include recommendations for legislative action to protect children's health and to improve the alternatives assessment process.
     (3) The definitions in RCW 70.240.010 apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   Beginning July 1, 2017, the department may require a manufacturer of children's products containing chemicals of high concern for children to conduct an alternatives assessment consistent with section 5 of this act. The department must provide a manufacturer at least one year to submit the alternatives assessment. The department may require alternatives assessments for no more than two chemicals of high concern for children per year.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   Sections 2 through 5 and 7 of this act are each added to chapter 70.240 RCW.