Bipartisan Bill Would Give Safer Choice Program Its First Statutory Authorization
For a voluntary program with roughly 2,000 certified products and unusually broad industry support, Safer Choice has always rested on thin statutory footing. EPA has run it for more than a decade under general Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority, without any statute naming the program or directing the agency to operate it. A bill introduced in the Senate on June 2, 2026, would change that.
What the Bill Does
Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jon Husted (R-OH) introduced S. 4664, the Safer Choice Program Authorization Act of 2026, which would direct the EPA administrator to carry out a voluntary Safer Choice Program encompassing both the Safer Choice and Design for the Environment (DfE) Standards. The bill has been read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
The legislation would codify much of what EPA already does administratively. It directs the Administrator to certify products against those Standards, criteria the agency updated in 2024; to maintain the Safer Chemical Ingredients List; and to authorize use of the Safer Choice and DfE labels, which the bill treats as agency marks that may not be used in a false or unauthorized manner. It would formalize the role of qualified third-party profilers—the outside reviewers who evaluate ingredients and formulations—subject to independence and conflict-of-interest requirements, while reserving final certification decisions to the administrator. The bill would also authorize the administrator to add product categories—a direction EPA explored through a 2023 request for comment. It directs coordination with the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission and authorizes $6 million per year for fiscal years 2028 through 2034.
Why It Matters
Because Congress never authorized Safer Choice, the program has been exposed to elimination through budget and reorganization decisions rather than legislation. Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership recommended transitioning the Safer Choice program to the private sector, and in 2025 EPA reportedly moved the program into a larger chemicals division as part of a broader reorganization. The administration’s recent budget requests have proposed steep reductions across EPA. Statutory authorization would make the program meaningfully harder to unwind administratively.
Who Is Affected
The interested parties here are mostly proponents. Cleaning-product manufacturers account for most Safer Choice certifications, and they, along with ingredient suppliers, retailers, and institutional and government purchasers who use the label as a procurement benchmark, have an interest in the program’s continuity. Trade associations representing these sectors have supported authorization. In addition, third-party profilers would gain a defined statutory role under the legislation.
