At long last, the Securities and Exchange Commission has finalized its rules regarding disclosures for climate-related risk for public companies. The SEC significantly softened the rules since the last proposal, including phasing in requirements based on company size, dropping Scope 3 emissions disclosure requirements, and only requiring disclosure of “material” information. Please read a detailed analysis ..read more

The “chasing arrows” symbol has been ubiquitous since its introduction in the late 1980’s. Consumers interpret packaging bearing the symbol as recyclable, but according to CalRecycle, the state agency with authority over recycling and waste management, whether a material is accepted for recycling and actually recycled is often dependent on geographic location. In other words, just because something is capable of being recycled and is labeled with chasing arrows does not guarantee it will be accepted for recycling in a particular area. Two years ago, the California Legislature addressed potenti ..read more

The California Legislature was especially busy this past year in the consumer markets space, enacting several key pieces of legislation aimed at addressing concerns over the environment and consumer protection. These include: Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act​ (SB 253) Requires companies doing business in California with annual worldwide revenue over USD 1B to submit annual reports on greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board is directed to develop implementing regulations by January 2, 2025, with reporting set to begin January 1, 2026. Climate-related risk disclos ..read more

The recent California legislative session saw the enactment of three pieces of climate legislation that are expected to have a significant impact on companies doing business in California, whether public or private. Senate Bill 253: The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act SB 253 represents the first concrete climate emissions disclosure requirement in the US. The law applies to companies doing business in California with $1 billion or more in annual revenue worldwide—not just $1 billion in California. This includes public and private companies. “Doing business in California” is a phrase ..read more

On October 17, 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an enforcement advisory letter to manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of food packaging and cookware regarding enforcement of California’s PFAS restrictions for these product categories. The advisory letter details the requirements and restrictions under AB 1200, many of which went into effect in January 2023, with some new requirements following in January 2024. As with many other remedial statutes in California, AB 1200 does not specify any specific penalty provisions or enforcement policies, or authorize any state agency ..read more

The California Court of Appeal has issued a precedent-setting decision holding that the ADA does not apply to online-only businesses. The decision brings some much needed clarity for online-only businesses in California, although the federal courts are still split on whether websites that have no “nexus” to a physical location can be considered places of public accommodation under the ADA. Check out our detailed analysis here.    ..read more

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 1817 into law, adding to the growing list of state legislation restricting the use of PFAS substances in a variety of consumer products. As of January 1, 2025, AB 1817 prohibits the manufacture, distribution, sale, or offer for sale in the state of “any new, not previously used, textile articles that contain regulated” PFAS substances. Scope AB 1817 defines “textiles articles” as “textile goods of a type customarily and ordinarily used in households and businesses, and include, but are not limited to, apparel, accessories, handbags, backpacks, dra ..read more

While we will have more to say shortly on the strategy itself, we wanted to make sure you all saw that the U.S. Government has released its enforcement strategy for the UFLPA, as well as its initial “entity” list. Check back soon for some insights from us on the guidance. Strategy: UFLPA Strategy | Homeland Security (dhs.gov) Entity list: UFLPA Entity List | Homeland Security (dhs.gov ..read more

The US continues to trail much of the world in the business human rights space, as there currently are no broad-based federal modern slavery laws similar to the UK or Australia modern slavery acts, nor any proposed federal legislation addressing modern slavery. Similarly, very little has happened at the state level. Historically, the only piece of “hard” law addressing social compliance and supply chains was the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which requires large retailers and manufacturers to disclose their efforts at combatting human trafficking in their supply chains. While t ..read more

There has been yet another update in the series of the latest Proposition 65 proposed rulemaking regarding short-form warnings. On January 8, 2021, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s (OEHHA) announced that it would amend the regulation relating to short-form Proposition 65 warning. After two sets of revisions to the proposed regulation, OEHHA has run out of time. OEHHA announced that it has been unable to complete the rulemaking within the allotted one-year time frame and must start the process over. What does this mean? At least for now, the proposed rulemaking ..read more