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The Precautionary Principle Background Information On March 3, 2003, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution 129-03, endorsing the Precautionary Principle and requesting the Department of the Environment to propose legislation adopting the Precautionary Principle as a general City policy. In [April, 2003], the Board of Supervisors and Mayor adopted the Precautionary Principle as a guiding policy for all City actions (Environment Code Chapter 1). Resolution 129-03 also stated that the specific integration of a precautionary approach to the purchase of all commodities by the City would be an appropriate first step to implementing the Precautionary Principle given the City's annual purchasing power of over $600 million and requested the Department of the Environment to submit for the Board's consideration legislation applying the precautionary principle to the purchase of commodities. The Department of the Environment working with the Commission on the Environment, the sponsor and after numerous public hearings, submits this legislation for the Board and Mayor's consideration. See Also: Background
on The Precautionary Principle
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Draft Legislation LEGISLATIVE DIGEST [Environmentally Preferable Purchasing.] Ordinance repealing Chapter 2 of the Environment Code, the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing pilot program ordinance, and adding a new Chapter 2 to the Environment Code to establish a comprehensive City-wide Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program for purchases of commodities. Existing Law In 1999, the Board of Supervisors established the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing pilot program ordinance (Environment Code Chapter 2) with respect to the purchase of chemical products to initiate the process of reducing the health and environmental impact of the products used in City operations. The ordinance required a three-year pilot program during which City departments would survey their use of chemical products; establish standards or criteria for evaluating the most environmentally preferred products for performing a certain task, and evaluate whether the use of chemical products could be reduced by product substitution or changes in work practices. The Department of the Environment was the lead agency for coordination of the pilot program. Based on the findings of the pilot program, and as required by the ordinance, the Commission on the Environment submitted a report to the Board recommending that the Board adopt legislation enacting a Citywide Environmental Preferable Purchasing Program. All tasks required by the existing ordinance are complete. Amendments to Current Law This ordinance would repeal the current pilot program ordinance and create a City-wide Environmentally Preferable Purchasing ordinance for commodities based on the pilot program, goals set forth in the ordinance and the Precautionary Principle. The ordinance would require the Commission on the Environment to review all commodities regularly purchased by City departments and periodically identify "Targeted Product Categories" of commodities which may cause undesirable environmental impacts and for which alternative products should be identified and substituted. The Department of the Environment would then be required to evaluate substitute products and establish "approved alternatives" to that targeted product. Once the Department establishes a list of approved alternatives to a targeted product, City departments may only buy from that list. The ordinance would allow for City department and public participation in each step of the listing process. Bidders for products not listed in any category would be required to submit information about their product to be evaluated and used in future listings. Waivers may be granted in an emergency; when no approved alternative meets a department's performance specifications; or when all approved alternatives are cost prohibitive. |