Environmental Health Advocates, Inc. v. Sream, Inc.

BACKGROUND

A. Proposition 65 Proposition 65 was enacted as an initiative measure in 1986 and added sections 25249.6 through 25249.13 to the Health and Safety Code. (Nicolle- Wagner v. Deukmejian (1991) 230 Cal.App.3d 652, 654–655 (Nicolle- Wagner).) Section 25249.6 provides: “No person in the course of doing business shall knowingly and intentionally expose any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning to such individual, except as provided in Section 25249.10.” 2 Section 25249.12 requires the Governor to designate a “lead agency” to implement the provisions of Proposition 65. That agency has the authority to “adopt and modify regulations, standards, and permits as necessary to conform with and implement this chapter and to further its purposes.” (§ 25249.12, subd. (a).) The Governor originally designated the Health and Welfare Agency as the lead agency for Proposition 65. (Nicolle-Wagner, supra, 230 Cal.App.3d at p. 655.) In 1995, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

2Section 25249.10 sets forth certain exemptions not relevant…