Chemicals: outdoor application: residential areas.

The hazardous waste control laws require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate the handling and management of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. Existing law, known as the Green Chemistry program, requires the department to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being chemicals of concern. This bill would require a government agency or an entity with which a government agency contracts to submit a plan for the application of a chemical to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment before applying the chemical outdoors in a residential area, defined as a residential neighborhood, school, daycare center, park and recreational facility, or other location where infants and children generally spend time. The bill would require the office to conduct an independent review of any health impacts of the chemical, including reviewing any relevant scientific literature, studies, or other independently peer-reviewed information relating to the chemical's adverse health effects on infants and children. If there is any evidence in the peer-reviewed scientific literature or studies that the chemical may cause genetic damage, birth defects, cancer, or nervous or reproductive system harm, the bill would prohibit a government agency or an entity with which a government agency contracts from applying the chemical outdoors in a residential area. The bill would also prohibit a government agency or an entity with which a government agency contracts from applying a chemical outdoors in a residential area if literature or studies relating to whether there are adverse health effects of the chemical have not been completed until the literature or studies have been completed and subjected to independent scientific peer review and the office completes a review pursuant to the bill's provisions. The bill would require the office to hold at least one public meeting annually for purposes of presenting its proposed findings and accepting public testimony on chemicals for which plans have been submitted pursuant to the bill's provisions.