At least one California legislator is said to be considering statewide legislation to "monitor and regulate" nanotechnology in the state. Assemblyman Mike Feuer chaired a meeting on April 23 at UCLA to discuss options for developing nanotech regulation without impairing its growth. Assemblyman Feuer is one of the leading voices in California concerning nanotechnology regulation.
While the legislation isn’t expected to be introduced until sometime next year, different options are said to be under consideration. One option creates a multi-agency task force led by the University of California and the California EPA, while another option calls for quick action by EPA itself.
This is another example of state and local regulatory bodies stepping in to create nanotechnology oversight regulation in the absence of federal activity. California’s consideration joins Berkeley, Cambridge, and Wisconsin as the potential "first-movers."
The multi-agency approach is a new concept that I’ve not seen attempted before (admittedly, that is hard to accomplish on the municipal level), but it makes sense on a lot of levels. We’ll all have to watch what California does towards the end of this year and into next year.
