The "Golden State" has the reputation in the regulatory world of being somewhat of a difficult child. It's the one who wants to go its own way, marching to the beat of its own drum. The state is well known for having its own strict environmental policies, different from other states, or federal regulations. Keeping in this tradition, California is leading the United States in electronics environmental legislation, most notably with what has come to be known as "California RoHS," after similar European Union directive, the Restriction of use of Certain Hazardous Substances (2002/95/EC).

　　California RoHS, passed in 2003, regulates electronics with displays larger than four inches diagonally, following similar substance, threshold limits and exemptions as the EU RoHS and WEEE directives. The substance restrictions (the usual suspects: lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) come into force in California on January 1, 2007. Under the law, the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control will prohibit the affected electronic products from being sold in California from that date if they are prohibited from sale in the EU because of the presence of certain heavy metals.

　　At this time, the main difference between California RoHS and the EU version is that the products affected by California RoHS are a much narrower scope than the EU legislation. However, there was a bill proposed in the state's legislature that could change that, and basically make California RoHS' scope almost identical to products affected by the EU version. Assembly Bill 2202 "Hazardous waste, electrical devices," would revise the definition of "electronic devices" to mean instead, "a device that is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields to work properly or is a device for the generation, transfer, or measurement of electric currents or fields, that falls under the categories set out in Annex IA to Directive 2002/95/EC, and is designed for use with a voltage rating that does not exceed 1000 volts for alternating current and 1500 volts for direct current. "

　　Luckily, California RoHS also requires the DTSC to recognize any exemptions the EU adopted in its RoHS directive, which includes large-scale stationary industrial tools. This exemption has been utilized already by manufacturers of printing equipment with respect to EU RoHS.

　　An additional distinction between California and EU RoHS is that two of the EU restricted substances, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are forms of flame retardants, are not included in the California version. Flame retardants are already regulated in California by existing legislation. In 2003, California voted to ban Penta and Octa PBDEs by 2008, making California the first US state to take regulatory action on these flame retardants. In its final form, the legislation prohibits manufacturing, processing or distributing greater than 1/10 of 1% pentaBDE and octaBDE. The penta form is added to foam in cushions and mattresses, while octa is put into plastics.

　　Another set of legislation of note that almost everyone has heard about is California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65. This law requires the Governor of California to annually publish a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Businesses also are required to notify Californians about significant amounts of chemicals in the products they purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment. Numerous law suits have resulted from the law, which includes provisions allowing private parties to bring actions against alleged violators on behalf of the general public. While the benefits of such regulation are fairly obvious, the regulated community must tend to feel as though it is constantly on the defensive, as it seems that virtually anything and everything these days will at some point be labeled bad for your health. At least in California.