The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published a notice of modified text on December 13, 2021 to its proposed short-form warning regulations of California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop 65). OEHHA had initially proposed amendments to its short-form warning regulations on January 8, 2021. The December 13, 2021 proposed amendments respond to public comments received including a March 11, 2021 public hearing. A new public comment period for the proposed amendments will run from December 17, 2021 through January 14, 2022.
The proposed new amendments are consistent with OEHHA’s January 8, 2021 proposal’s objectives to: 1) require more specific information in short-form warnings; and 2) limit the use of the safe harbor short-form warning to small products. The proposed new language is identical to the January 8, 2021 rulemaking, with the following exceptions:
WARNING: Cancer Risk From [name of chemical] – www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
WARNING: Exposes you to [name of chemical], a carcinogen – www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
Despite significant industry push back, OEHHA’s proposed amendments signal the Agency’s strong intent to follow through on its plans to significantly limited the widespread use of Prop 65 short-form warnings. If adopted, businesses will have one year to update their short-form warnings or provide alternative compliant product warnings. OEHHA will consider short-form warnings on products manufactured before the effective date of the proposed amendments as compliant.