Food packaging: hazardous chemicals.

Existing law prohibits a person from distributing, selling, or offering for sale in the state any plant-based food packaging that contains regulated perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, as defined. This bill would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2027, the manufacture, distribution, sale, or offering for sale in the state of food packaging that contains intentionally added bisphenols or ortho-phthalates, as defined. The bill would require, subject to an appropriation, the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a threshold in food packaging for bisphenols or ortho-phthalates that are not intentionally added, as specified. The bill would also prohibit, no sooner than a year after the adoption of those regulations, the manufacture, distribution, sale, or offering for sale in the state of food packaging that contains bisphenols or ortho-phthalates at or above that threshold. The bill would authorize the department and the Attorney General to enforce these prohibitions and would subject a person to an administrative or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for the first violation of a prohibition and not to exceed $10,000 for each subsequent violation, as specified. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, authorize funds in the Toxic Substances Control Account to be used by the department to implement these provisions.