Spray foam company fights California’s forced research funding scheme

Berkeley, California; September 21, 2026: A Texas-based spray foam insulation manufacturer filed a lawsuit today challenging a California law that forces manufacturers to fund green research as a condition of selling lawful products in the state. Quadrant Performance Materials alleges that California is violating the First Amendment by making businesses subsidize research and advocacy it does not support.

“California cannot create a pay-to-play system requiring manufacturers to fund government-preferred ideas just to sell spray foam in California,” said Christian Townsend, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “The First Amendment protects businesses from being forced to fund speech they did not choose, and entrepreneurs like Quadrant deserve the freedom to grow, innovate, and serve their customers without such unconstitutional burdens.”

Quadrant has quickly become the fifth-largest spray foam manufacturer in the country. Its insulation helps buildings use less energy by both insulating and sealing air leaks. But as Quadrant seeks to increase its California sales, the state’s costly fee requirement threatens to divert resources the company could otherwise use to improve its products.

The lawsuit challenges California’s fee under the First Amendment, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and the Import-Export Clause. It alleges that the mandate compels manufacturers to help fund the state’s research agenda and discriminates against out-of-state businesses selling lawful products across state lines. A victory would protect Quadrant and other manufacturers from being conscripted into financing state policy agendas as the price of doing business.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Quadrant free of charge. The case is Quadrant Performance Materials v. California Department of Toxic Substances Control.