The California Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee recently passed, as amended, SB 682, and referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Health for a further hearing. If ultimately enacted as law, SB 682 would result in the phase-out of a vast range of consumer products and many commercial/industrial products containing any amount of “intentionally added PFAS,” starting in 2027. The preamble of SB 682 states that the “intent of this act is to phase out the sale of products with avoidable PFAS use to address the imminent threat of further contamination of the environment in the state.” To effectuate this intent, SB 682 would, over time, ban almost all consumer products and a wide-range of commercial/industrial products that contain “intentionally added PFAS,” which is defined to include both (a) PFAS added to a product that has a functional or technical effect in the product, and (b) PFAS intentionally used or produced during the manufacturing process that has a functional or technical effect on the product or that process. The proposed ban phases are as follows:
- January 1, 2027: prohibits distribution or sale of a “covered product” that contains intentionally added PFAS, unless the prohibition is preempted by federal law or the product is previously used. Covered products are defined as the following product categories: cleaning products, cookware, dental floss, juvenile products, food packaging, and ski wax.
- January 1, 2035: prohibits distribution or sale of any consumer product that contains intentionally added PFAS that is not specified in the 2027 or 2040 bans, unless the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has determined that the use of PFAS in the product is a currently unavoidable use, the prohibition is preempted by federal law, or the product is previously used.
- January 1, 2040: prohibits distribution or sale of certain commercial/industrial products that contain intentionally added PFAS, including certain textile products, refrigerants, solvents, propellants, automotive products, lubricants, and other industry-specific products (including for semiconductor manufacturing and petroleum production), unless DTSC has made a determination that the use of PFAS in the product is a currently unavoidable use, the prohibition is preempted by federal law, or the product is previously used.
With respect to the 2035 and 2040 bans, the burden will be on manufacturers and trade associations to petition DTSC for a “currently unavoidable use” determination, which will require the petitioner to demonstrate all of the following: (1) there are “no safer alternatives to PFAS that are reasonably available”; (2) inclusion of PFAS in the product is “necessary for the product to work”; and (3) the use of PFAS in the product is “critical for health, safety, or the functioning of society.”
If SB 682 is enacted as law, it will be the most far-reaching PFAS ban implemented by the California Legislature to date, and it will result in major costs and technical hurdles for affected industries and manufacturers, including with respect to reformulation of products, substantiating petitions for “currently unavoidable use” determinations, and (if neither of those avenues is effective) ceasing distribution and sale of regulated products in California. The current text of SB 682 and related legislative information is available at the California Legislative Information website, here. The Senate Committee on Health hearing on SB 682 will be held at 1:30pm on April 30, 2025. The hearing may be livestreamed at the Committee’s website (link here).
