Bill
SB 5628
Cooks made of aluminum or brass must meet 90 ppm lead by 2026, then 10 ppm by 2028, with Ecology allowed to lower limits later if feasible and health-protective.
Status & timeline
- Signed by the Governor: May 13, 2025.
- Chapter/Session: Chapter 266, 69th Legislature (2025).
- Effective date: July 27, 2025.
- Compliance dates in statute: January 1, 2026; January 1, 2028; rulemaking authority after December 2030.
Purpose
- To amend Washington’s 2024 lead-in-cookware law by narrowing the covered products, changing allowable lead limits (ppm), adding certain utensils, and preserving Department of Ecology authority under existing safer-products law.
Key provisions (what the bill does)
- Scope narrowed to aluminum or brass products:
- Applies to aluminum or brass cookware (pots, pans, kettles, griddles, grills, internal pots for devices such as rice or pressure cookers, and similar food-contact vessels), aluminum or brass cookware components (lids, rivets, fasteners, valves, vent pipes), and aluminum or brass utensils (knives, forks, spoons, spatulas, etc.).
- Excludes items that have only an internal layer of aluminum/brass that is completely enclosed by stainless steel.
- Excludes the body of electronic cooking devices with removable cooking containers (e.g., slow cookers, rice cookers, pressure cookers).
- Phased allowable lead content (total lead or lead compounds):
- Beginning January 1, 2026: maximum 90 parts per million (ppm).
- Beginning January 1, 2028: maximum 10 ppm.
- After December 2030, the Department of Ecology (in consultation with the Dept. of Health) may adopt rules to lower the 10 ppm limit if it finds the lower limit is feasible for manufacturers and necessary to protect health (including vulnerable populations).
- Sales and supply restrictions:
- Prohibits manufacturers from making or distributing in Washington, and prohibits retailers/wholesalers from knowingly selling or offering for sale in Washington, covered items that exceed the applicable ppm limits.
- Retailers/wholesalers who unknowingly sell restricted products are not liable under the chapter.
- Casual/isolated sales and sales by nonprofit organizations of used items are exempt.
- Preserves Ecology’s authority: statutory limits do not restrict Ecology’s authority under the Safer Products for Washington program (chapter 70A.350 RCW).
Who is affected
- Primary: manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, and wholesalers of aluminum or brass cookware, cookware components, and aluminum/brass utensils sold or offered for sale in Washington.
- Secondary: consumers (including vulnerable populations), manufacturers of multilayer or stainless steel-clad cookware, and electronic-cooking-device manufacturers (whose bodies are exempt).
- Used goods sellers and nonprofits (exempt in casual/isolated sales).
Implementation and enforcement
- Compliance obligations begin Jan 1, 2026 (90 ppm) and tighten Jan 1, 2028 (10 ppm).
- Ecology (with DOH for later reductions) has rulemaking authority to further tighten limits after Dec 2030.
- The bill does not supplant Ecology’s broader regulatory authority over priority chemicals under the Safer Products for Washington program.
Practical effect
- Provides a temporary higher lead threshold (90 ppm) to reduce immediate market disruption, followed by a stricter 10 ppm standard in 2028, while limiting the law’s coverage to aluminum/brass products (and exempting fully stainless-steel-encased parts and certain device bodies). Ecology retains ability to further lower limits by rule if warranted.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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