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It's Happening Here

Silicosis laws could have wide effect

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

Hard-surface fabrication in California may change drastically in the next year-and-a-half if pending legislation becomes state law. Notice that I didn’t put “quartz-surface,” or “engineered-stone,” or “stone” in front of “fabrication.” Depending on how you read AB 3043 – the proposed law before the California legislature, it’s likely to be all of the above … and more. Porcelain-based surfaces? Possibly. Recycled-product slabs? Maybe. Solid-surface? Don’t count it out.

Read the legislative analysis and the text of AB 3043 here.

It’s all in how you read AB 3043, which seeks to put safe-fabrication guidelines in state statutes. Up to now in California, the actions seeking to curb silica dust and reduce worker silicosis involved state safety regulations. AB 3043, introduced by Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta), would add the enhanced power of state law.

The proposed law parallels the new state regulations in banning dry fabrication. Beyond that, AB 3043:

  • Directs the state’s Industrial Relations Department, by July 2025, to adopt a training curriculum on safe fabrication that includes classroom instruction and certification.
  • Requires business owners, by January 2026, to allow only certified workers to work on the shop floor (and pay for the cost of employee training and certification).
  • Directs the Industrial Relations Department, by January 2026, to develop a licensing program for shops to fabricate slab products and requires shops to become licensed beginning in January 2026. (Licenses would be for a three-year period.)
  • Prohibits anyone from supplying a slab product directly to any fabrication person or entity not holding a fabrication license.

I’ve put several words in italics to draw attention. These phrases can potentially draw an ever-expanding circle around who’s going to be regulated, based on the definitions provided in AB 3043. Let’s take a look at the legislation’s definition of slab product: “Slab product” means a thick, flat piece of a solid stone substance, including artificial, engineered, or natural stone that is used for countertop installation or customization. Notice the word that’s missing in that definition: silica. AB 3043 references quartz, cristobalite, or tridymite – the minerals associated with crystalline silica – in another definition, but it doesn’t tie that in with wording on slab product. The legislation, in its current form, leaves stone as a vague term. Can you consider solid surface – in thick, flat pieces, as a form of artificial stone? Or many recycled products with a cementitious binder that includes particles of stone? And, uh, sintered stone, anyone? The phrasing of supplying products directly to unlicensed persons or entities for fabrication also seems to create a strange situation. AB 3043 doesn’t prohibit anyone, either individual or company, without a license from going into a distributor and buying a slab. They would need to provide written certification that they wouldn’t fabricate it without a license or sell it to someone unlicensed. The proposed law doesn’t stop anyone buying a slab and providing it to someone for fabrication services. It’s a loophole for anyone on both sides of the transaction to drive 45’ flatbed trailers full of slab products through it. The main intent of AB 3043 – throttling down the sources of crystalline silica and protecting workers from developing silicosis – is correct. Yes, it’s another complication for doing business in California, and there’s still the problem of getting the law properly and evenly enforced. However, the legislation has the backing of industry and organized labor, and it passed California’s lower house by unanimous vote (with four abstentions). The state Senate has until the end of August to consider the bill. Overall, it’s a good first step. But, like other things in life, watch out for that first step. It could be a doozy.