(a) (1) On or before January 1, 2011, the department shall adopt regulations pursuant to this section that establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer products, and their potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern, in accordance with the review process specified in Section 25252.5. The department shall adopt these regulations in consultation with all appropriate state agencies and after conducting one or more public workshops for which the department provides public notice and provides an opportunity for all interested parties to comment.

(2) The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall establish a process that includes an evaluation of the availability of potential alternatives and potential hazards posed by those alternatives, as well as an evaluation of critical exposure pathways. This process shall include life cycle assessment tools that take into consideration, but shall not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) Product function or performance.

(B) Useful life.

(C) Materials and resource consumption.

(D) Water conservation.

(E) Water quality impacts.

(F) Air emissions.

(G) Production, in-use, and transportation energy inputs.

(H) Energy efficiency.

(I) Greenhouse gas emissions.

(J) Waste and end-of-life disposal.

(K) Public health impacts, including potential impacts to sensitive subpopulations, including infants and children.

(L) Environmental impacts.

(M) Economic impacts.

(b) The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall specify the range of regulatory responses that the department may take following the completion of the alternatives analysis, including, but not limited to, any of the following actions:

(1) Not requiring any action.

(2) Imposing requirements to provide additional information needed to assess a chemical of concern and its potential alternatives.

(3) Imposing requirements on the labeling or other type of consumer product information.

(4) Imposing a restriction on the use of the chemical of concern in the consumer product.

(5) Prohibiting the use of the chemical of concern in the consumer product.

(6) Imposing requirements that control access to or limit exposure to the chemical of concern in the consumer product.

(7) Imposing requirements for the manufacturer to manage the product at the end of its useful life, including recycling or responsible disposal of the consumer product.

(8) Imposing a requirement to fund green chemistry challenge grants where no feasible safer alternative exists.

(9) Any other outcome the department determines accomplishes the requirements of this article.

(c) The department, in developing the processes and regulations pursuant to this section, shall ensure that the tools available are in a form that allows for ease of use and transparency of application. The department shall also make every feasible effort to devise simplified and accessible tools that consumer product manufacturers, consumer product distributors, product retailers, and consumers can use to make consumer product manufacturing, sales, and purchase decisions.

(d) (1) In lieu of requiring an analysis of alternatives, as specified in subdivisions (a) and (b), the department may instead rely on all or part of one or more applicable publicly available studies or evaluations of alternatives to the chemical of concern under consideration in a consumer product, in existence at the time of consideration, and may proceed directly to a regulatory response.

(2) Any study or evaluation that the department proposes to rely on pursuant to this subdivision shall satisfy one of the reliability criteria in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (57) of subdivision (a) of, and also meet the requirements of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (57) of subdivision (a) of, Section 69501.1 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.

(3) The department shall provide public notice and an opportunity for comment from the public, including responsible entities, on the proposal to rely on the studies or evaluations. The proposal may be combined with the proposal to list a chemical-product combination as a priority product.

(4) The proposal shall address any relevant factors listed in subdivision (c) of Section 69506 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, as that section may be amended, that product manufacturers would be required to address as part of the regulatory response. If the department determines that a study or evaluation upon which it is relying pursuant to this subdivision does not address one or more relevant factors, the department may augment the study or evaluation with additional information that addresses the relevant factors as part of the proposal to rely on the studies or evaluations.

(5) Following public notice and comment, the department shall make a formal determination of whether the studies or evaluations are applicable and meet the reliability criteria and requirements specified in paragraph (2), and whether all relevant factors have been addressed. The department shall publish a summary of its determination, including whether the department plans to proceed to regulatory responses. If regulatory responses are planned, the summary shall not be judicially reviewable until regulatory responses are finalized.

(6) Following a formal determination pursuant to paragraph (5), the department may issue regulatory responses based on the studies or evaluations, after providing public notice and an opportunity for comment from the public, including responsible entities, on the regulatory responses. The department shall respond to all comments it receives.

(e) (1) The department shall amend Sections 69504 and 69504.1 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations to allow a person to petition the department for a regulatory response pursuant to subdivision (d).

(2) The revision of regulations pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a change without regulatory effect.

(f) If the department provides public notice of a proposed regulation pursuant to this article and an opportunity to comment prior to the adoption of the regulation, the dispute resolution procedures specified in Sections 69507.1 and 69507.2 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, as those sections read on January 1, 2021, shall not be available to a person who seeks to dispute the regulation and the requirement to exhaust administrative remedies in subdivision (b) of Section 69507 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations does not apply.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 701, Sec. 3. (SB 502) Effective January 1, 2023.)