Paint firms seek voter help
SACRAMENTO — As three national paint companies move closer to getting a measure on California’s November ballot that would wipe out a court ruling against them, state lawmakers are pushing the companies to back down from some of their claims.
ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams announced Thursday that they have started to submit more than 680,000 signatures to ensure their initiative appears on the ballot. The companies’ plan would eliminate a court order for them to pay an estimated $700 million to clean up lead paint. It would replace it with $2 billion in taxpayerfunded bonds to finance the cleanup of lead, mold and other hazardous materials.
The companies have also started a digital ad campaign asking Californians to persuade their lawmakers to propose bills that would overturn the court ruling. The companies’ contend that the court ruling “red tags” millions of homes and makes homeowners potentially liable for lead paint cleanup.
The problem is that none of those claims are true, eight state legislators say in a letter sent to the companies’ chief executives Wednesday.
“It is offensive that after decades of deceiving the public and fighting to shirk your court-ordered responsibilities, you would again attempt to mislead California homeowners,” the letter said.
Lawmakers have received thousands of emails from homeowners via the companies’ site, Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) said in a conference call with reporters Thursday. Chiu and his colleagues want the companies to take the site down.
The companies don’t plan to do so, said Antonio Dias, an attorney representing Sherwin-Williams, and contend that legislators should work with them to mitigate the effects of the court ruling.
Instead, Chiu and his colleagues have introduced a package of bills aimed at further holding the companies’ liable for lead paint-related cleanup.
The eight legislators who signed the letter asking the companies to stop their ad campaign are Chiu, Assemblywomen Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) and Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles); Assemblymen Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley), Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) and Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento); and state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).