Hazard evaluation system and information service.

Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations, with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) , to establish a repository of current data on toxic materials and harmful physical agents in use or potentially in use in places of employment in the state. That repository is known as the Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service (HESIS) . Existing law requires HESIS, among other things, to provide information and collect and evaluate data relating to possible hazards to employees resulting from exposure to toxic materials or harmful physical agents. Existing law expressly does not require employers to report any information not otherwise required by law. This bill, except as specified, when there is new scientific or medical information and the Chief of HESIS, in consultation with the Director of Industrial Relations and the Chief of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control in DPH, makes a specified determination, would require chemical manufacturers, formulators, suppliers, distributors, importers, and their agents to provide to HESIS the names and addresses of their customers who have purchased specified chemicals or commercial products containing those chemicals, and certain other information related to those shipments, upon written request of HESIS, for every product the final destination of which may be a place of employment in California. The bill would deem the names and addresses of customers, the quantities and dates of shipments, and the proportion of a specified chemical within a mixture to be confidential. The bill would also provide that DPH would be entitled to reimbursement of attorney's fees and costs incurred in seeking an injunction to enforce this requirement. The California Public Records Act requires certain public records to be made available for public inspection, and lists records that are exempt from disclosure under the act. The bill would exempt from public disclosure under the act the names and addresses of customers, the quantities and dates of shipments, and the proportion of a specified chemical within a mixture provided to HESIS by chemical manufacturers, formulators, suppliers, distributors, importers, and their agents, that would be required pursuant to the bill, as provided, but would specifically authorize HESIS to disclose that information to officers or employees of the DPH, to officers or employees of the state who are responsible for carrying out the provisions of the Labor Code relating to safety in employment, or to specified state agencies. The bill would also state findings and declarations of the Legislature for limiting the public's right of access to the information.