Senate Passes TSCA Reform Bill

December 20, 2015
Ann Grimaldi

On December 17, 2015, the U.S. Senate passed S. 697, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act. This long-awaited Senate action on TSCA reform had been delayed due to efforts by Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) to attach an unrelated amendment. The bill now must be reconciled with the House of Representative’s TSCA reform bill, H.R. 2576, which the House approved in June. The most significant challenge likely will be reconciliation of the bills’ preemption provisions, with Senator Barbara Boxer having voiced significant concerns over state rights to regulate chemicals.

Ann Grimaldi

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.