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Day of Reckoning Approaches for Key Environmental Bills in California--Including Those to Prevent Lead Exposure

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

Two of PCL's top priority pieces of legislation face their first committee challenge at the state Capitol Monday afternoon.

AB 2153 (Krekorian) the Water Efficiency Security Act will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. This important water efficiency and conservation measure requires developers to fully mitigate any additional water demand from their development in order to secure the water supply reliability of existing residents. Last week, the Sacramento Bee noted the importance of this bill and AB 2175 (Laird/Feuer) in meeting California's water needs.

By supporting AB 2153 on Monday, the Legislature has the opportunity to advance the discussion regarding the Governor's recent call for a 20 percent per capita reduction in California water use.

SB 1165 (Kuehl), which improves public participation during the environmental review process for new developments, will be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. This measure will provide for greater transparency in the creation of draft Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and requires EIRs older than five years to be reviewed again for new impacts.

Passage of SB 1165 will ensure that environmental documents are truly current and that public decisions are truly public.

We'll let you know how these two bills fare next week!

Bills to Prevent Lead Exposure to be Heard

With the onslaught of new instances of lead-laden products flooding our store shelves, the Legislature has taken up the six new bills aimed to address this health threat.

Despite federal, state, and local measures, lead poisoning remains a major threat to California's children. According to estimates by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, lead may harm over 300,000 children in the United States. Health impacts include developmental and learning disabilities, damage to the kidneys and central nervous system, underdevelopment, and at very high levels seizures, coma, and death.

Numerous high-profile news stories have recently reported that this toxic substance continues to be used in a number of consumer products from children's toys and jewelry to indoor plumbing and lipstick.

Several bills before the state Legislature this year aim to lessen the public's exposure to lead:

• AB 2115 (Mullin), similar to last year's SB 775 (Ridley-Thomas), would establish a program to increase screening for lead poisoning in children six years of age or younger in California prior to being admitted to school;

• AB 2694 (Ma) would set a lower lead content standard for children's toys;

• AB 2901 (Brownley) would enhance the 'lead' jewelry law to include other types of jewelry and accessories;

• AB 2905 (Davis) and SB 1712 (Migden) would prohibit the use of lead in lipstick;

• SB 1713 (Migden) would ensure that manufacturers seek the safest alternative to lead and bisphenol-A, as well as prohibiting the sale and distribution of children's products that contain detectable levels of lead.

For more information on these legislative initiatives, contact PCL's Public Health and the Environment Program Manger.

Traci Sheehan is the Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League, a statewide, nonprofit lobbying organization. For more than thirty years, PCL has fought to develop a body of environmental laws in California that is the best in the United States. PCL staff review virtually every environmental bill that comes before the California Legislature each year. It has testified in support or opposition of thousands of bills to strengthen California's environmental laws and fight off rollbacks of environmental protections.

Posted on April 06, 2008

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