SB0294 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 05152 CPF 15173 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB0294

Introduced 2/19/2021, by Sen. Cristina Castro

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Wipes Labeling Act. Presents the findings of the General Assembly. Provides that a covered entity must clearly and conspicuously label a covered product as "do not flush" in accordance with specified requirements. Provides that, upon a request by a municipality or county, a covered entity must submit to the requesting entity, within 90 days after the request, nonconfidential business information and documentation demonstrating compliance with the Act in a format that is easy to understand. Provides that municipalities and counties have concurrent and exclusive authority to enforce the Act and to collect civil penalties for violations of the Act and may impose a civil penalty in the amount of up to $2,000 for the first violation of the Act, up to $5,000 for the second violation, and up to $10,000 for the third and any subsequent violation. Provides that a municipality or county must send a written notice of an alleged violation and a copy of the requirements of the Act to a noncompliant covered entity, which will have 90 days to become compliant. Provides that covered products required to be registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act must only comply with the Act on and after July 1, 2023. Limits home rule powers to regulate the labeling of covered products. Contains a severability provision. Effective July 1, 2022.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

HOME RULE NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Wipes Labeling Act.

Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that creating labeling standards for disposable wipes products will protect public health, the environment, water quality, and public infrastructure used for the collection, transport, and treatment of wastewater. It is not the intent of the General Assembly to address standards for flushability with this Act.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Covered entity" means a manufacturer of a covered product and a wholesaler, supplier, or retailer that has contractually undertaken responsibility to the manufacturer for the "do not flush" labeling of a covered product.

"Covered product" means a nonflushable nonwoven disposable wipe that is a premoistened wipe constructed from nonwoven sheets and designed and marketed for diapering, personal hygiene, or household hard surface cleaning purposes. "Covered product" does not include a wipe product designed or marketed for cleaning or medicating the anorectal or vaginal areas on the human body and labeled "flushable", "sewer safe", "septic safe", or otherwise indicating that the product is appropriate for disposal in a toilet, including, but not limited to, premoistened toilet tissue.

"Label" means to represent by statement, word, picture, design, or emblem on a covered product package.

"Principal display panel" means the side of a product package that is most likely to be displayed, presented, or shown under customary conditions of display for retail sale.

Section 15. Labeling requirements.

(a) A covered entity must clearly and conspicuously label a covered product as "do not flush" as follows:

(1) Use the "do not flush" symbol, or a gender equivalent thereof, described in the INDA/EDANA Code of Practice 2 (COP2, as published in "Guidelines for Assessing the Flushability of Disposable Nonwoven Products," Edition 4, May 2018, by INDA/EDANA).

(2) Place the symbol on the principal display panel in a prominent and reasonably visible location on the package that, in the case of packaging intended to dispense individual wipes, is permanently affixed in a location that is visible to a person each time a wipe is dispensed from the package.

(3) Size the symbol to cover at least 2% of the surface area of the principal display panel on which the symbol is presented.

(4) Ensure the symbol is not obscured by packaging seams, folds, or other package design elements.

(5) Ensure the symbol has sufficiently high contrast with the immediate background of the packaging to render it likely to be read by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use. In the case of a printed symbol, "high contrast" is defined as follows:

(A) provided with either a light symbol on a dark background or a dark symbol on a light background; and

(B) a minimum level or percentage of contrast between the symbol artwork and the background of at least 70%. Contrast in percent is determined by:

(i) contrast = (B1 - B2) x 100 / B1; and

(ii) where B1 = light reflectance value of the lighter area and B2 = light reflectance value of the darker area.

(b) In the case of a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical package, the surface area of the principal display panel constitutes 40% of the product package, as measured by multiplying the height of the container times the circumference.

In the case of a flexible film package, in which a rectangular prism or nearly rectangular prism stack of wipes is housed within the film, the surface area of the principal display panel constitutes the length times the width of the side of the package when the flexible packaging film is pressed flat against the stack of wipes on all sides of the stack.

(c) Beginning January 1, 2023, no package or box containing a covered product manufactured on or before the effective date of this Act may be offered for distribution or sale in the State.

Section 20. Nonconfidential business information. Upon a request by a municipality or county, a covered entity must submit to the requesting entity, within 90 days after the request, nonconfidential business information and documentation demonstrating compliance with this Act in a format that is easy to understand.

Section 25. Units of local government; authority to enforce; civil penalties.

(a) Municipalities and counties have authority to enforce this Act and to collect civil penalties for violations of this Act, subject to the conditions in this Section. A municipality or county may impose a civil penalty in the amount of up to $2,000 for the first violation of this Act, up to $5,000 for the second violation, and up to $10,000 for the third and any subsequent violation. If a covered entity has paid a prior penalty for the same violation to a different municipality or county with enforcement authority under this Section, the penalty imposed by a municipality or county shall be reduced by the amount of the payment.

(b) Any civil penalties collected pursuant to this Section must be paid to the enforcing municipality or county that brought the action.

(c) The remedies provided by this Section are not exclusive and are in addition to the remedies that may be available under relevant consumer protection laws, if applicable.

(d) In addition to penalties recovered under this Section, the enforcing municipality or county may recover reasonable enforcement costs and attorneys' fees from the liable covered entity.

Section 30. Noncompliant covered entities. Covered entities that violate the requirements of this Act are subject to the civil penalties described in Section 25. A specific violation is deemed to have occurred upon the sale of a noncompliant product package. The repeated sale of the same noncompliant product package is considered part of the same, single violation. A municipality or county must send a written notice of an alleged violation and a copy of the requirements of this Act to a noncompliant covered entity, which will have 90 days to become compliant. A municipality or county may assess a first penalty if the covered entity has not met the requirements of this Act 90 days after the date the notification was sent. A municipality or county may impose a second, third, and subsequent penalty on a covered entity that remains noncompliant with the requirements of this Act for every month of noncompliance.

Section 35. Covered products registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A covered product required to be registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 24 Sec. 136 et seq. (1996)) must only comply with this Act on and after July 1, 2023.

Section 40. Home rule. A home rule unit may not regulate the labeling of covered products in a manner inconsistent with the regulation by the State of the labeling of covered products under this Act. This Section is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers and functions exercised by the State.

Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2022.