Why would CA state law prohibit shipping these dishes there?
Federal law prohibits the sale of dishes etc that contain more than a certain level of lead. California has an almost identical law, except that the ‘threshold level’ at which sales are banned is much lower than the Federal limit. The Federal law is set at 1/100th of the lowest level at which any negative health effects have been reported. CA law is set at 1/1000th – a 10th of the Federal limit. Dish makers and importers are set up to test their products to ensure that they meet the Federal limits. Equipment to test down to the micro-levels required by CA is VERY expensive, so many makers don’t even try to ensure their products are CA legal – they just say “Not to be sold in CA” and only test to Federal levels. The chances are that the dishes being sold by LL Bean would, if tested, meet CA law – but they don’t want to spend the money to test them.
