Shortly before his death, on May 22 Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Senator David Vitter (R-LA) introduced S. 1009. The bill has 14 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors. In April, the late Senator and Senator Vitter had introduced S. 696, the Safe Chemicals Act, but instead of having two competing bills to contend with, it appears that S. 1009 will serve as a main vehicle for TSCA reform legislation. Under S. 1009, chemicals in the marketplace would be evaluated for safety and prioritized as "high" or "low" risk to human health and the environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) would do further safety evaluations for high-priority chemicals and new chemicals would have to be screened for safety before entering the market, and US EPA would have the authority to ban their use. State and local governments would have input on prioritization, safety assessment, and the safety determination process, and US EPA would be allowed to get health and safety information about chemicals from the manufacturers.The bill also provides provisions to protect trade secrets and intellectual property. This bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, but no further action has been scheduled.
As previously noted, the SOT Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Subcommittee will begin to monitor the legislation and will explore ways by which they can educate staff members and Members of Congress about the various scientific provisions of the bill. The Subcommittee will not be writing language and they will not be advocating one provision over another. The current TSCA statute is more than 30 years old.