A bill that would have banned the use of chlorine-based pigments and paints in collision repair shops and other industries in Washington state has been replaced by legislation and passed unanimously by the Senate and House , which eliminated this direct impact on business.
SB 5369, as written last week, would have eliminated the manufacture, sale and distribution of any paint and ink containing chlorine-based pigments beginning January 1, 2025 in Washington state . That would have meant the state’s collision repair shops would have been directly affected by not having access to the paints and materials they needed, according to the Auto Body and Paint Association.
The Color Pigment Manufacturers Association (CPMA) and other coatings, paints and inks trade associations in the state are calling it a win.
“CPMA facilitated a coalition of downstream customer industry associations to further their communication with legislative sponsors regarding the adverse economic impacts of SB 5369 on Washington State businesses,” said Director CPMA Executive David Wawer. “The coalition was made up of industries that needed to use printing inks and paints and coatings for their products and services. The coalition included companies that had a physical presence in Washington State and would otherwise be disadvantaged financially if the broader version of SB 5369 were passed by the state legislature.”
For the auto body industry and its suppliers to be most directly affected, the inclusion of titanium dioxide pigment, a necessary component in vehicle paint, would have had the greatest impact, Wawer said.
The American Coatings Association (ACA) spoke out against the bill in February, noting that “studies indicate that paint does not contribute significantly to PCB contamination” and “most paints do not contain PCB”.
“As noted at the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee hearing, an Ecology study indicates that the major contributors to non-legacy PCB contamination are yellow scum, sidewalk chalk and breakfast cereal that contain the yellow dye in question,” ACA wrote in its article. letter to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “A study by the Spokane River Task Force also indicates electrical equipment, fish feed, paper products, and lubricants. These potentially significant contributors are not at issue in SB 5369. The ACA believes the bill would have of requiring a study to identify products that contribute significantly to PCB contamination rather than targeting products with little or no impact on PCB contamination.”
ACA told Repairer Driven News last week that the bill could “reduce access to certain types of paints used by the collision repair industry,” ACA said, but without knowing the specific language of the bill and the amendments that are being considered, the association could not evaluate. specific at that time. The ACA did not respond to RDN’s request for comment by publication deadline after the bill passed the Legislature.
“The range of recalled paints could be broad, depending on the language of the invoice. Restrictions are also unlikely to reduce PCB levels in waterways, as some pigments contain trace amounts that have not been shown to contribute significantly to PCB contamination, particularly when compared to other products, as described in written comments submitted in February.
The original bill did not include any ban on chlorine-based paints, pigments and inks. He tried to get the Washington Department of Ecology to ask the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reassess the legal amount of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) allowed under the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA’s purpose in doing this would be to place restrictions on the use of PCBs previously considered inadvertent in consumer products under its authority provided by the Pollution Prevention for Healthy People and the Puget Sound Act.
The version of SB 5369 that passed, which was an amendment introduced in the House, includes the petition requirement to be completed by January 1, 2025, specifically, “to reassess their regulations on manufacturing processes excluded from prohibitions on manufacture, processing and distribution”. in commerce, and the use of PCBs and PCB articles under 40 CFR Sec. 761.3 in order to eliminate or reduce the presence of PCBs in consumer products.
“The legislature finds that non-legacy PCB contamination can be more effectively managed upstream at the product and process source rather than at downstream facilities at the end of the product’s life cycle,” says the draft law “The Toxic Substances Control Act standard for inadvertent PCBs does not reflect current science on the limits necessary to protect human health and the environment and is pending revision.”
House Speaker Laurie Jenkins (D-District 27) signed the bill into law on April 23rd and it was sent to Gov. Jay Inslee on April 24th.
Wawer said CPMA will continue to monitor the state Department of Ecology’s activities related to the bill’s petition requirement.
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Featured Image Credit: Lubo Ivanko/iStock
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