Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986: settlements: attorney’s fees.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on costs or impacts, nor does it specify if and when the bill will be signed into law by the Governor.

Proposition 65 Settlements: Attorney's Fees

The bill updates the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65) to require courts to ensure settlements provide public benefits, reduce chemical exposure levels from before the settlement or add proper warnings if not previously provided. It also sets a procedure for awarding attorney’s fees when the Attorney General objects.

What This Bill Does

• Requires courts to find that Proposition 65 settlements must be in the public interest and provide a benefit.
• Directs courts to ensure settlements reduce chemical exposure levels from before the settlement or add proper warnings if not previously provided.
• Establishes a procedure for awarding attorney’s fees when the Attorney General objects to the fee amount set in a settlement.

Who It Names or Affects

• Courts that handle Proposition 65 cases
• People or businesses involved in Proposition 65 settlements

Terms To Know

Proposition 65

A California law passed by voters to protect drinking water and prevent exposure to toxic chemicals.

Attorney’s fees

Money paid to a lawyer for legal services provided in court cases.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much the changes will cost or affect public resources.
• It is unclear if and when this bill will be signed into law by the Governor.

Official Summary Text

AB 2577, as amended, Connolly.
Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of
1986.
1986: settlements: attorney’s fees.
The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 65 at the November 4, 1986, statewide general election, prohibits a person, in the course of doing business, from knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without giving a specified warning, or from knowingly discharging or releasing that chemical into water, or into or onto land and passing into any source of drinking water, except as specified. The act authorizes a person, acting in the public interest, to bring an action to enforce the requirements of the act if specified requirements are met. If there is a settlement of an action brought by a person in the public interest the act requires the
plaintiff to submit the settlement to the court for approval upon noticed motion, and authorizes the court to approve the settlement only if the court makes specified findings, as provided.
This bill would additionally require the court to find that the settlement provides a public benefit and is in the public interest. The bill would further require, under a specified circumstance, the court to find that the settlement would require the defendant to reduce the exposure to the listed chemical from the level that existed before the settlement or provide a warning that complies with the act if that warning was not provided previously. The bill would also establish a procedure pursuant to which the court would be authorized to enter an award of attorney’s fees if the Attorney General objects to the award of attorneys’ fees set forth in the settlement, as provided.
Proposition 65 provides that it may be amended by a statute, passed by a
2
/
3
vote of each house of the Legislature, to further its purposes.
This bill would find and declare that it furthers the purposes of Proposition 65.
The existing Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65), an initiative measure that may be amended by a
2
3
vote of the Legislature to further its purposes, generally prohibits any person, in the course of doing business, from knowingly discharging or releasing a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity into water or onto or into land where that chemical passes or probably will pass into any source of drinking water.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF