Chapter 1 - Citizen Action
Backing citizen action at the ballot box
Californians have shown their willingness to act boldly when they believe industry opposition is blocking legislative progress in the area of public health and environmental protections. One of the most significant examples of this was the campaign to enact Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.[4] This powerful right-to-know statute, widely known as Prop. 65, was designed to give ordinary citizens the right to be informed about their exposure to chemicals known by experts to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive toxicity. One of the most popular provisions in the law is its tough private-enforcement provision, which authorizes citizen action when public prosecutors are unable or unwilling to pursue enforcement. It was put on the ballot at a time of growing public frustration with the power of industry lobbyists to block effective regulation of toxic chemical exposures in the state legislature and Congress. In the end, voters passed the measure by an overwhelming 2:1 margin despite massive industry opposition.
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