California bill targets toxic chemicals in receipts to protect workers, shoppers

Chaewon Chung, The Sacramento Bee on Mar 11, 2026

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California on Tuesday advanced a bill that would ban industrial, hormone-disrupting chemicals from receipts.

During a hearing of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, lawmakers unanimously voted to advance AB 1604, a bill that would restrict the use of BPA, or bisphenol A, starting in 2027 and BPS, or bisphenol S — a common BPA substitute — starting in 2028.

“People who handle receipts every day, and especially cashiers, are exposed to these chemicals over and over again. And studies have linked this exposure to breast cancer and other serious health risks. No one should face higher cancer risk just for doing their job or out there buying groceries,” said Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, who authored the bill, in remarks captured by CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

“And it’s time that we have our businesses and manufacturers switch to safer alternatives,” Stefani added, emphasizing that the bill will protect both workers and consumers who interact with receipts and improve the state’s recycling systems.

Proposed in January, the bill now moves to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Nancy Biermeier, a senior policy strategist at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, an advocacy organization that works to raise awareness about chemicals linked to breast cancer, testified at the hearing and stressed that prohibiting BPA alone is not enough to protect people from toxic chemicals in receipts because BPA has often been replaced with another industrial chemical, BPS, in receipts.

The Ecology Center found that by 2022, “BPA-based receipts have been almost entirely replaced by BPS,” and reported that BPS‑based receipts accounted for 85% of receipts from large businesses in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Researchers, including a 2015 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, have found that BPS is “as hormonally active as BPA” with “endocrine-disrupting effects.”

“Thermal receipt paper has long been problematic for recycling because the chemical coating contaminates paper fiber streams and can introduce hazardous substances into recycled pulp, which has been detected in recycled paper products like napkins and tissues,” Tony Hackett, a policy associate with Californians Against Waste, which co-sponsored the bill with Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, said on Tuesday.

“Removing these chemicals at the design stage is far more effective than trying to manage them once they enter the waste stream. And this bill is not without precedent.”

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