Senate Reaches Agreement in TSCA Negotiations

After meeting with members of the House and Senate, VI has learned that an agreement has been reached between Senate leaders negotiating an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced late last week that they have agreed on a path forward, though they did not release specifics.

“We have negotiated in good faith and are extremely pleased that we have reached an agreement on key sticking points of the [Toxic Substances Control Act] reform bill,” the two senators said in a statement.

Sen. Boxer remained the last holdout to the bipartisan Senate bill that passed last December.  She had wanted to grant more regulatory authority to states than what the bill allowed.  Although neither senator said what changes they had agreed to, a key point of contention is the extent to which state laws should be preempted.  Businesses and manufacturers have argued that strong federal preemption would prevent a patchwork of state regulatory regimes to navigate.

The Senate must now reconcile their changes with the House before a vote on a compromise bill.  VI is hearing that a vote is expected by the end of May.

Please join us in calling on Congress to support strong preemption in TSCA reform.