Governor Brown Proposes $765K for Prop 65

California Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed 2014-2015 budget will allocate $765,000 to the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).  The money will allow OEHHA to revise the Proposition 65 warning regulations and develop a new website.

Proposition 65, or The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, requires companies offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm to provide consumers with a health hazard warning.  Last year, Governor Brown announced a plan to to revise Prop 65, which is still under consideration.  The Governor’s reform efforts followed on the heels of an amendment sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, which gives some businesses a 14-day cure period.  OEHHA is also considering revisions to its regulations concerning Proposition 65 warnings.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.