Coming Together to Create the California Right to Know Act

It’s been five years since the passage of California’s Cleaning Products Right to Know Act. Recently, we brought together some of the cleaning industry members who were part of crafting that legislation to discuss how it came together, where it is five years later, and what lessons can be learned from the process.

This legislation was hardly the first time the question of the disclosure of cleaning product ingredients had come up. Cleaning product companies are sharing more information than ever before. This trajectory actually started in 2008 with a voluntary initiative to provide ingredient information on the label, on a website, or through a toll-free telephone number. Although voluntary, a large percentage of companies participated. Ingredient communication took another big step forward in 2017 with the passage of California’s legislation.?

Getting To Yes

The legislation was many years in the making with several initial unsuccessful starts. Why did this effort succeed when those before it didn’t? The answer may lie in the approach taken by then California State Senator Ricardo Lara, who championed the bill. He and his staff brought stakeholders together, including industry and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), for a series of discussions over nine months. Every participant made a commitment to work together respectfully toward a solution.

Initially, much of the discussions involved baseline education. While all participants were committed to helping consumers understand what is in their cleaning products so they can make an informed decision, they were often approaching the issue from different perspectives. The industry representatives explored how cleaning products were already regulated under multiple governmental standards and how those regulations differed depending on the regulatory body overseeing different cleaning product categories. They also discussed the intricacies of creating cleaning product labels and how to fit legally required information into the very limited space of the product label.

Stakeholders from the non-government agencies also shared their concerns. The NGO groups wanted to ensure domestic household workers and others had access to in-depth information about the products they use at higher rates than the average consumer. They also felt that some workers required having a high level of ingredient details on the product label out of concern for information equity between those with and without reliable access to the Internet.

Members of the cleaning products industry acknowledged these concerns and provided perspective on the realities of limited label space. They did not want to distract from other important information, like Directions for Use and First Aid and Precautionary warnings and proposed alternative options. They also wanted to inform consumers about ingredients while maintaining their ability to protect the proprietary formula innovation of their brands. As an analogy, soft drinks can have virtually identical ingredient lists yet taste different. Those small differences offer a competitive advantage and their exact recipes are famously guarded (reverse engineering is more difficult than you would think). Similarly, cleaning brands have subtle differences that are the result of tremendous investments in research and development that impact performance and consumer preference.

Given these concerns, reaching a solution involved compromise and mutual understanding. After nine months of collaboration and negotiation, a workable solution was achieved that involved a combination of increased information on the label supplemented by more information available on the website.

Rolling It Out

The passage of the bill was just the beginning. Implementation took time and companies had to navigate the transition. At first, simply gathering the necessary information to publish was a challenge. Many suppliers who weren’t involved in the creation of this legislation were not prepared for the influx of inquiries as a result. And updating packaging to be in compliance was an expensive and time-intensive process…compounded by implementation during the peak of the covid pandemic.

Transitioning to the new label requirements was merely the first challenge. Making updates is an ongoing one. During the pandemic, supply chains were affected to a degree never envisioned when the bill language was drafted. It became challenging to remain in compliance with the legislation when supply shortages required use of alternate ingredients to keep products on the shelf for consumers. This upheaval emphasized the importance of flexibility in order to meet consumer needs for both information and product availability. The need for this flexibility in the midst of supply chain shortages is a continuing challenge under the existing statutory language, which wasn’t fully envisioned in 2017. A key consideration here is that updating a website is a much quicker process than changing a product label.

Learning for Next Time

What were the lessons learned during this process?

Leadership matters. The tone and structure of the discussions were set by Senator Lara. A huge part of this success was having a convener to get all stakeholders talking to one another and finding a way forward.

Commitment matters. All parties were willing to compromise and work together. Whether in person or on the phone, stakeholders spent hours keeping the lines of communication open and working through potential issues. In particular, our NGO colleagues joining us at the table, voicing their concerns, and listening to ours helped create legislation that could meet the needs of consumers in an achievable way.

Progress matters. The resulting statute was by no means perfect but taking manageable steps forward paves the way for more steps in the future. We need to continue to work together, with good will and good science, to build on this success and continue to meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumers.

Learn about the industry’s ongoing commitment to ingredient communication at https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/ingredientcommunication.

Thanks to Greg Adamson of Givaudan Fragrances Corporation, Hal Ambuter of Reckitt, Heather Berlinski of SC Johnson, Julie Froelicher of Procter & Gamble, Lisa Pankiewicz of The Clorox Company, and Cynthia Reichard of Arylessence, Inc. for their contributions to this article.