Prop 65 Reform Proposed to Allow Businesses With Fewer than 25 Employees 14-Day Cure

California Assemblyman Brian Jones (R-Santee) has introduced AB-2361, which proposes a 14-day cure period for small businesses that have been served with a 60-Day Notice of Violation of Proposition 65.  If the business has fewer than 25 employees, they can avoid a lawsuit so long as they cure the alleged violation (such as putting up a warning sign, or removing the offending product from shelves) and pay a $500 fine within 14 days.

This is similar to last year’s AB-227, which proposed a 14-day cure period for businesses alleged to be in violation of Prop. 65; however, AB-227 was later narrowed to certain specific types of exposure (alcoholic beverages, chemicals formed during cooking, tobacco smoke, engine exhaust in a parking facility).  Prop. 65 has recently been the target of reform by lawmakers and even Gov. Jerry Brown himself.

AB-2361 is at a very initial stage in the legislative process as it has to receive a hearing in a committee.

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.