Assembly Member Sandré Swanson, Chair

April 1, 2011

Assembly Member Sandré Swanson, Chair Assembly Labor & Employment Committee 1020 N Street Room 155 Sacramento, CA 95814 via fax (916) 319-2191

Re: AB 553 (Monning) - SUPPORT

Dear Assembly Member Swanson:

Worksafe, Inc. is the sponsor of AB 553 and requests your support for the bill. This important legislation will make more efficient and less costly the process for setting permissible exposure limits (PELs) to better protect workers exposed to toxic chemicals. AB 553 amends the Labor Code so that PELs will be based on sound scientific evidence developed by specified governmental agencies if those agencies have already addressed the chemical to be regulated.

Worksafe, Inc. is a California-based organization dedicated to eliminating all types of workplace hazards. We advocate for protective worker health and safety laws and effective remedies for injured workers and engage in campaigns in coalition with unions, workers, community, environmental and legal organizations, and scientists to eliminate hazards and toxic chemicals from the workplace.

Under the current law it can take many years before new or revised PELs are adopted for various chemicals despite the fact that government data exists or becomes available regarding the dangers posed by a toxic substance. It is not necessary to duplicate the efforts of specified agencies – in particular the California Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or the United States National Toxicology Program Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction – when those agencies have already researched and prepared quantitative risk assessments for chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive, developmental, or other serious physical harm.

Please support AB 553 when it comes before you. We support AB 553 because we need protective standards for the most dangerous workplace chemical exposures, and should move as swiftly as possible to adopt them when we have information about the risks posed by toxics that cause cancer and other serious harm. This bill will streamline and expedite the PEL setting process and ensure that workers will be better protected and less likely to become ill and die prematurely as a result of exposure to those toxic materials. Thank you for your commitment to worker health and safety.

Sincerely,

Lora Jo Foo, Legal Director Worksafe, Inc. [email protected], (510) 302-1077 cc: Assembly Member Bill Monning (916) 319-2127

Assembly Labor & Employment Committee Members: Assembly Member Mike Morell, Vice Chair (916) 319-2163 Assembly Member Luis A. Alejo (916) 319-2128 Assembly Member Michael Allen (916) 319-2107 Assembly Member Warren T. Furutani (916) 319-2155 Assembly Member Jeff Gorell (916) 319-2137 Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (916) 319-2108

55 Harrison Street, Suite 400  Oakland, CA 94607 P: 510 302 1011  F: 510 663 5132  www.worksafe.org