California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 2253 on Sunday, a bill that intended to reduce greenwashing by tightening requirements for packaging and a wider swath of products making recycled content claims. The bill had also laid out allowable methodologies for counting recycled content.
Specifically, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner’s bill would have eventually required that all products making recycled content claims conform to the Green Guides, the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines for environmental marketing claims. That threshold already applies to claims made on plastic food containers.
“I share the author’s goal of ensuring that environmental marketing claims are accurate and that consumers can trust the products they buy,” Newsom’s veto message states.
“However, I am concerned that expanding these documentation requirements will unduly burden manufacturers and suppliers already facing economic headwinds caused by federal tariff and trade policy actions. Adding new, complex compliance requirements at this time risks compounding those pressures, with little benefit to consumers,” the governor concluded.
The bill was backed by Californians Against Waste and other environmental advocacy groups. It was opposed by packaging and CPG groups such as Ameripen and the American Beverage Association, in part due to concerns about excluding certain types of mass-balance accounting systems.
The prior week, Newsom vetoed SB 1180, which would have established new spending requirements and eligible entities for the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund, which was created by SB 54, the state’s extended producer responsibility for packaging and source reduction law. Newsom worried the legislation could complicate ongoing work to implement SB 54. SB 1180 was also panned by packaging industry groups.
Newsom did sign SB 633 into law this month, which will require beverage manufacturers to report to CalRecycle the amount of imported postconsumer recycled content used in their plastic containers, along with third-party certification, effective March 1, 2028. It also increases the fine from 20 cents to 30 cents for each pound of virgin plastic used in lieu of the required amount of PCR.
The deadline for Newsom to act on bills from the 2026 legislative session is Sept. 30.
