wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1756 > Substitute Bill

HB 1756 - Lead in cookware

Source

Section 1

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

  1. "Component" includes separate or distinct parts of the cookware including, but not limited to, accessories such as lids, knobs, handles and handle assemblies, griddles and other cooktop surfaces that touch food, rivets, fasteners, valves, and vent pipes. "Component" does not include inaccessible components of cookware or utensils.

  2. [Empty]

    1. "Cookware" means any metal pots, pans, bakeware, rice cookers, pressure cookers, utensils, and other containers and devices intended for the preparation or storage of food.

    2. "Cookware" does not include refrigerators or large appliances such as ranges that do not have metal surfaces intended for direct contact with food.

  3. "Department" means the Washington state department of ecology.

  4. [Empty]

    1. "Inaccessible component" means a part or a component of cookware that is located inside or is entirely enclosed with another material and is not capable of coming into contact with food or being accessed during the intended use of the product and its normal wear and tear.

    2. "Inaccessible component" does not apply to those components made of multiple testing layers serving distinct functions, such as aesthetics, heat conduction, durability, corrosion resistance, and optimal thickness in the final design component, and where one layer in this design is in direct contact with food during use, such as cooking pots and pans composed of multiple layers.

  5. "Manufacturer" means any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, governmental entity, organization, or joint venture that produces a product or is an importer or domestic distributor of a product sold or offered for sale in or into the state.

  6. "Utensils" means metal-containing items that are intended to directly contact food, such as knives, forks, spoons, spatulas, and other such food preparation tools.

  7. "Vulnerable populations" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 70A.02.010.

Section 2

  1. Beginning January 1, 2026, no manufacturer may manufacture, sell, offer for sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in this state cookware or a cookware component containing lead or lead compounds at a level of more than five parts per million.

  2. [Empty]

    1. Beginning January 1, 2026, no retailer or wholesaler may knowingly sell or knowingly offer for sale for use in this state cookware, or a cookware component that contains lead or lead compounds at a level of more than five parts per million.

    2. Retailers or wholesalers who unknowingly sell products that are restricted from sale under this chapter are not liable under this chapter.

    3. The sale or purchase of any previously owned cookware or cookware components containing lead made in casual or isolated sales as defined in RCW 82.04.040, or by a nonprofit organization, is exempt from this chapter.

  3. After December 2034, the department, in consultation with the department of health, may lower the five part per million limit established in subsection (1) of this section by rule if it determines that the lower limit is:

    1. Feasible for cookware and cookware component manufacturers to achieve; and

    2. Necessary to protect human health, including the health of vulnerable populations.

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