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Who cares
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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the general business law, in relation to jewelry containing lead
Purpose
This bill would prohibit the distribution and sale of jewelry containing lead, to reduce the hazards of exposure to lead, would define testing methods for jewelry to determine compliance, would impose penalties for violating the law and institute a new labeling requirement for lead containing jewelry.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Sets out legislative findings. Section 2: Adds new section 37-0113 to the environmental conservation law. This section defines body piercing jewelry; children; children's jewelry; class 1 material; class 2 material; class 3 material; jewelry components; EPA reference methods, jewelry and surface coating. This section also sets the date on or after which restriction will be placed on advertising, manufacturing, offering for sale, selling, distributing for promotional purposes, or importing for distribution or sale into this state, any jewelry that does not meet the standards of safety based on the definitions above. Section 3: Adds a new section 37-0115 to the Environmental Conservation Law the defines testing methods for determining compliance with section 37-0113. Section 4: Adds new section 71-3711 to Environmental Conservation Law, which establishes the enforcement provisions for section 37-0113. The initial violation of this section would amount to a civil penalty not to exceed $500. Any subsequent violation of this section would result in a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 for each violation. Penalties would be assessed by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation after considering a variety of factors. Any civil fine collected would be deposited in the Environmental Protection Fund. Any showing of excessive lead content must be done by a laboratory meeting the testing requirement established under this bill. Any person charged under this section of the law must be provided with all the supporting documents related to the testing of the jewelry. Section 5: Amends the general business law to create a new section 399-gg that requires all jewelry sold contain a conspicuous notice stating the percentage of lead in the jewelry. Also, any jewelry sold containing more than .02 percent (two hundred parts per million) lead by weight shall contain a warning label, stating, "Contains lead which may be harmful to your health. Not be used by children under the age of six." Section 6: Effective date.
Read the full memo (697 words)
Existing law
None.
Justification
Lead is a neurotoxin that is particularly hazardous to young children. Exposures to even very low levels of lead can cause brain function impairment. No level of lead exposure has been found to be safe for a developing child. High concentrations of lead have been consistently found in jewelry, particularly inexpensive jewelry that is marketed to children. Numerous random samples of jewelry sold in New York State have been found to contain very high lead content (up to 60,000 parts per million) in recent tests. It is the purpose of this legislation to reduce the significant risk of lead exposure, particularly to children, by limiting the availability of lead containing jewelry.
This legislation has been redrafted to meet the issues pointed out in the veto message for a similar bill which passed both houses in 2007. The Governor seemed to be concerned that the enforcement mechanisms be improved and that retailers be prevented from using ignorance as a defense to selling a toxic piece of jewelry. In an effort to meet these concerns, the "knowing and intentional" requirements have been removed from penalty section of the bill and a new labeling' requirement has been added to insure that manufacturers explicitly state the lead content of a particular piece of jewelry. Additionally, patterned after the California Law this new bill includes factors for the Commissioner to consider when levying penalties including the good faith of the violator.
If signed into law, this bill would be an important measure in protecting the health and safety of our most valuable resource our children.
Legislative history
Similar bill, S.5784, vetoed 2007.
Fiscal implications
None.
Local fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediately; except that section 5 of the act shall take effect March 1, 2010.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.