SOCMA: Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates

In a show of bipartisanship, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and David Vitter (R-LA) last week introduced a bill to reform the nation's chemical laws - the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Lautenberg-Vitter Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 1009) has 20 co-sponsors, who are almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

There's a lot to like in the legislation, said SOCMA's Bill Allmond, and the bipartisan process should be commended. As it stands today, SOCMA supports the bill.

Some of the positive highlights include:
 

• Protection for confidential business information; the CBI section is an improvement over the previous version.
• The new law makes clearer trade secret protection of chemical identity. The current law is ambiguous in this regard. The new version clarifies that aspect of TSCA.
• The new chemicals program would largely be left unchanged.
• No minimum data sets are mandated, unlike previous Lautenberg bills.

SOCMA looks forward to working with Senators Vitter and Lautenberg on next steps.

For more on the bill, contact Dan Newton at (202) 721-4158.