Menstrual products: disposable tampons and pad products: concerning chemicals.

Senator Durazo’s measure would create a new information-collection and testing regime for disposable tampon and pad products, anchoring the policy in a mandatory data-maintenance obligation and public reporting framework. Beginning at the end of 2026, manufacturers must maintain information on the concentrations of certain concerning chemicals in their products, with the Department of Toxic Substances Control empowered to identify additional chemicals, publish testing methods and frequencies, and disseminate results and health-related information on its website. Fees collected under these provisions would be deposited into the T.A.M.P.O.N. Act Fund and made available, upon appropriation, to support administration, testing, and oversight.

The bill initially requires reporting on four metals—lead, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc—citing specific chemical identifiers, and it authorizes the department to add other concerning chemicals from its candidate list if they have been detected in products and have demonstrated adverse public health impacts. The department may also require manufacturers to maintain data for any newly designated chemicals. It may publish a list of acceptable testing methods, specify testing frequencies, and recognize third-party laboratory accreditations, with the authority to update these lists as needed. Manufacturers must, upon request, provide technical documentation and analytical results; the department may conduct its own testing or contract with laboratories to verify manufacturer results, with testing costs borne by the manufacturers.

Publication of analytical results and departmental analysis is authorized, and the department may furnish information about potential health impacts associated with specific chemicals in disposable tampon or pad products in a searchable public format. The bill links to existing funding and regulatory frameworks by referencing the T.A.M.P.O.N. Act Fund and existing provisions governing penalties and oversight, while not establishing new penalties within the section itself. The broader regulatory context includes ongoing PFAS-related prohibitions and a separate timetable for implementing related regulations, with this measure adding an information-collection and oversight layer within that framework. The obligation to maintain data and the department’s oversight authority are described as action-oriented mechanisms that could be responsive to evolving regulatory conditions through agency-directed updates to testing methods and chemical lists.