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Spray May 2013

Expanding in the U.S. The NAA's annual meeting in San Antonio The National Aerosol Association’s (NAA) 27th Annual Meeting was held in San Antonio, TX on March 5–7. The meeting—The U.S. is the Place to Expand—offered an array of networking opportunities, social activities and two days of educational sessions, highlighted below. Laurie Nelson, of Randlett/Nelson/Madden presented California Legislative Climate. In California, said Nelson, it is always critical to remember the political overview as this is the field upon which we all “play.” It is also important to remember that California now has two distinct sets of legislators in Sacramento: First the old members—their clock is ticking—and they remain in a hurry to make their last mark, and they are still in the majority. Then there are the 38 new members who will serve under a different time frame. Perhaps these really are “new & improved” members. Instead of being limited to six years in the Assembly and/or eight years in the Senate, their total number of years has been reduced from 14 to12—but now they can serve their entire term in one House. We need to absorb this because it may result in more thoughtful legislation, better follow-up and oversight of existing programs—and members may develop areas of actual expertise. In preliminary discussions they do seem calmer, more measured—but time will tell. The key focus in California now is the work done by the 30 Spray May 2013 Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on their Green Chemistry Program which gives them authority over almost every product sold into California. The Green Chemistry comment period for this last round of big changes to the regulation closed on Feb. 28. There will be one more 15-day comment period. The goal line for DTSC is to have the final regulations adopted no later than October 2013. We still have 74+ pages of uncertainty. Remember there is no set deminimus—so no level for you to design to, search for or test for. There is also no exemption for “unintentionally added” chemicals. This clearly works at cross purposes in the marketplace—discouraging innovation if a manufacturer has no way to determine what DTSC will decide is “safer” enough—why would someone spend the money to reformulate if they could not be guaranteed “approval” by DTSC? In timing, the next big hurdle will be the battle over the funding issue in April/May—and here is where the loss of Senator Michael Rubio—who recently resigned as Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee—really affects things again because we have lost our champion for an economic analysis. As you may recall, he was the one leading the charge, having sent a letter signed by other legislators, to press DTSC to complete an economic analysis on the Green Chemistry Program. We will continue to enlist others in support of that effort. Robert Fry of the DuPont Economist’s Office presented U.S. Manufacturing: Recovery from Secular & Cyclical Declines. The recession of 2001 was a manufacturing The NAA presented a check for $25,750 to the Military Warriors Support Foundation to purchase former U.S. military personnel Daniel Hood and his family a new home, as part of the Foundation’s “Homes4Wounded Heroes” program. Pictured: B. Ken Eakes, Executive Director, Military Warriors Support Foundation (left) flanks Greg Johnson, Sherwin Williams; Combat Engineer Daniel Hood and his wife Natasha; and NAA President George Buckland, DS Containers. Nelson


Spray May 2013
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