
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a notice of proposed amendments to Proposition 65 in October 2023 that significantly modify the information businesses are required to provide in short-form warnings.1 The proposed amendments were approved in November 2024 and took effect on January 1, 2025.2 3
Proposition 65 requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. These chemicals are found in the products that Californians purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or otherwise released into the environment.4 Proposition 65 applies to alcoholic beverages, cannabis and THC products, diesel engine exhaust, furniture products, passenger and off-highway motor vehicles, petroleum products, recreational vessels, and wood dust.5 Proposition 65 has been amended several times following its enactment in 1986.6 From the outset, Proposition 65 has been criticized by industry groups, who claim that it results in over-warning, as well as warnings that are meaningless, confusing, and/or unnecessary.
The most recent changes are intended to make warnings more informative and accessible to consumers while providing businesses with flexibility in how they comply. Regardless, the amendments to California’s Proposition 65 short-form warning requirements will likely be expensive and burdensome for businesses to implement. Within the next three years, businesses will have to make the following changes to short-form warnings: (1) a short-form warning must name at least one chemical for which the warning is provided; (2) for sale of online products, a more explicit short-form warning is required; and (3) a specific hyperlink is now required for short-form warnings for food products.7
The requirement that short-form warnings must identify a specific chemical for which the warning is being provided will likely present the most difficult change by forcing businesses to complete product testing or conduct investigations to correctly identify chemicals in their products. In the case of innocuous products that pose no apparent or inherent danger, these additional steps may be incredibly costly and burdensome.
For the sale of online products, warnings must now be provided on the product display page through a hyperlink that links to the warning, or through a prominently displayed warning that does not require the consumer to search through the product’s website.8 Previously, products sold online only required a warning somewhere on the product’s website and on the product itself.9 The newer, more stringent requirements could lead to increased litigation related to online sales and the adequacy of warnings provide on e-commerce platforms.
Likewise, the requirement to include specific chemical names in short-form warnings may make it easier for plaintiffs to identify non-compliant products and bring enforcement actions. Likewise, businesses will need to update their labels and potentially reformulate their products to meet compliance standards, which could lead to increased costs and increased litigation stemming from compliance disputes. To avoid the costs and uncertainties of litigation, businesses may be more inclined to settle cases out of court, especially if they are unsure about their compliance with the new requirements.
Businesses will need to ensure compliance with Proposition 65 short-form warnings by the end of 2027. For more information on these new amendments from a business perspective, please visit our prior article on this topic.
- OEHHA, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Announcement of Public Hearing, Amendments to Title 27 CCR § 25601, 25602, 25603, 25607.2, and New Sections 2567.50, 25607.51, 25607.52, and 25607.53, https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/nprmshortformamendments102723.pdf ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎
- OEHHA, Proposition 65: Clear and Reasonable Warnings – Safe Harbor Methods and Content (Dec. 6, 2024), https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/proposition-65-clear-and-reasonable-warnings-safe-harbor-methods-and-content. ↩︎
- California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Proposition 65 Your Right to Know!, About (2024), https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/about. ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎
- Donald, Anna, Prop. 65 Short-form Warnings Are About to Get Longer, JD Supra (Dec. 12, 2024), https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/prop-65-short-form-warnings-are-about-8698675/. ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎