Blog

California Ingredient Disclosure Bill Fails

A California bill that would have required the disclosure of ingredients in cleaning products failed to pass the California Assembly on January 28, 2016.

As originally introduced in February 2015, AB 708 would have required manufacturers of cleaning products to disclose their ingredients in descending order of weight percentage and to provide the Chemical Abstract Service Registry Numbers for each ingredient. The bill also would have required a description of the purpose of the ingredient. “Cleaning products” would have included air care products, automotive products like waxes, general cleaning products like detergents and floor maintenance products.

The bill was amended several times to narrow the scope of the disclosure obligations. In a January 27, 2016 amendment, the bill would have required ingredient disclosure only on the manufacturer’s website and not on the product label, and would have excluded unintentionally present chemicals from the disclosure obligation.

Ms. Grimaldi maintains a diverse environmental law practice focusing on chemical and product regulation and litigation defense. Her practice areas include Proposition 65, California's Safer Consumer Products Regulations, California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Act and the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Ms. Grimaldi graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law magna cum laude and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Bacteriology from University of California, Davis. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a research assistant in laboratories at the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Research Institute and at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.