[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1798 Reported in Senate (RS)]






                                                       Calendar No. 798
108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1798

  To provide for comprehensive fire safety standards for upholstered 
            furniture, mattresses, bedclothing, and candles.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 30, 2003

   Mr. Hollings (for himself, Mr. Breaux, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. 
 Graham of South Carolina, Mr. Chafee,  Mr. Reed, Mrs. Feinstein, and 
 Mr. Nelson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

                           November 10, 2004

  Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of October 11, 
                 2004, by Mr. McCain, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for comprehensive fire safety standards for upholstered 
            furniture, mattresses, bedclothing, and candles.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``American Home Fire Safety 
Act''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following 
findings:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) There were 12,800 candle fires in 1998, 
        resulting in 170 deaths, 1,200 civilian injuries, and 
        $174,600,000 in property damage.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) In 1998, mattress and bedding fires caused 410 
        deaths, 2,260 civilian injuries, and $255,400,000 in property 
        damage.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) The United States mattress industry has a long 
        history of working closely with safety officials to reduce 
        mattress flammability. For the past 25 years, mattresses have 
        been subject to a Federal flammability standard that requires 
        mattresses to resist ignition by smoldering 
        cigarettes.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Nevertheless, in 1998, fires involving 
        mattresses and bedding accessories (which include pillows, 
        comforters, and bedspreads) caused 410 deaths, 2,260 civilian 
        injuries, and $255,400,000 in property damage.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) In many such fires, the bedding accessories 
        are the first products to ignite. Such products have a material 
        impact on the fire's intensity, duration, and the risk that the 
        fire will spread beyond the room of origin.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) Upholstered furniture fires were responsible 
        for 520 deaths in 1998, with little statistical change in the 
        number of fires and deaths since 1994.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) While the fire death rates for upholstered 
        furniture fires have dropped during the period 1982 through 
        1994 for both California and the entire Nation, death rates in 
        California, which has stricter standards, have dropped by a 
        larger percentage than the nation as a whole.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) Children, the elderly, and lower income 
        families are at higher risk of death and injury from 
        upholstered furniture fires caused primarily by the increasing 
        incidents of children playing with matches, candles, lighters, 
        or other small open flames.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) In view of the increased incidents of fire, it 
        is important for Congress to establish fire safety standards 
        for candles, mattresses, bed clothing, and upholstered 
        furniture.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) The Consumer Product Safety Commission is the 
        appropriate agency to develop and enforce such 
        standards.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (11) The Environmental Protection Agency should 
        continue to review and determine the suitability of any 
        materials used to meet any fire safety standard established as 
        a result of this Act.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) to protect the public against death and injury 
        from fires associated with candles, mattresses, bed clothing, 
        and upholstered furniture; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) to require the Consumer Product Safety 
        Commission to develop and issue comprehensive uniform safety 
        standards to reduce the flammability of candles, mattresses, 
        bed clothing, and upholstered furniture.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. CONSUMER PRODUCT FIRE SAFETY STANDARDS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--Within 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall 
promulgate, as final consumer product safety standards under section 9 
of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2058), the following fire 
safety standards:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Upholstered furniture.--A fire safety standard 
        for upholstered furniture that is substantially the same as the 
        provisions of Technical Bulletin 117, ``Requirements, Test 
        Procedure and Apparatus for testing the Flame and Smolder 
        Resistance of Upholstered Furniture)'' published by the State 
        of California, Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home 
        Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, February 2002.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Mattresses.--A fire safety standard for 
        mattresses that is substantially the same as Technical Bulletin 
        603, ``Requirements and Test Procedure for Resistance of a 
        Residential Mattress/Box Spring Set to a Large Open Flame'', 
        published by the State of California, Department of Consumer 
        Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, 
        February 2003.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) Bedclothing.--A fire safety standard for 
        bedclothing that is substantially the same as the October 22, 
        2003, draft for task force review of Technical Bulletin 604, 
        ``Test Procedure and Apparatus for the Flame Resistance of 
        Filled Bedclothing'', published by the State of California, 
        Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings and 
        Thermal Insulation, October, 2003.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Candles.--A fire safety standard for candles 
        that is substantially the same as Provisional Standard PS 59-
        02, ``Provisional Specification for Fire Safety for Candles'', 
        ASTM International, as that provisional standard existed on the 
        date of enactment of this Act.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Application of Certain Promulgation Requirements.--The 
requirements of subsections (a) through (f) of section 9 of the 
Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2058), and section 36 of that 
Act (15 U.S.C. 2083), do not apply to the consumer product safety 
standards required to be promulgated by subsection (a) of this 
section.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Home Fire Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There were 12,800 candle fires in 1998, resulting in 
        170 deaths, 1,200 civilian injuries, and $174,600,000 in 
        property damage.
            (2) In 1998, mattress and bedding fires caused 410 deaths, 
        2,260 civilian injuries, and $255,400,000 in property damage.
            (3) The United States mattress industry has a long history 
        of working closely with safety officials to reduce mattress 
        flammability. For the past 25 years, mattresses have been 
        subject to a Federal flammability standard that requires 
        mattresses to resist ignition by smoldering cigarettes.
            (4) Nevertheless, in 1998, fires involving mattresses and 
        bedding accessories (which include pillows, comforters, and 
        bedspreads) caused 410 deaths, 2,260 civilian injuries, and 
        $255,400,000 in property damage.
            (5) In many such fires, the bedding accessories are the 
        first products to ignite. Such products have a material impact 
        on the fire's intensity, duration, and the risk that the fire 
        will spread beyond the room of origin.
            (6) Upholstered furniture fires were responsible for 520 
        deaths in 1998, with little statistical change in the number of 
        fires and deaths since 1994.
            (7) While the fire death rates for upholstered furniture 
        fires have dropped during the period 1982 through 1994 for both 
        California and the entire Nation, death rates in California, 
        which has stricter standards, have dropped by a larger 
        percentage than the Nation as a whole.
            (8) Children, the elderly, and lower income families are at 
        higher risk of death and injury from upholstered furniture 
        fires caused primarily by the increasing incidents of children 
        playing with matches, candles, lighters, or other small open 
        flames.
            (9) The Consumer Product Safety Commission is the 
        appropriate agency to develop and enforce fire safety of 
        products under its jurisdiction.
            (10) The Commission has reported to the Congress that it 
        will be prepared to vote on a fire resistant upholstered 
        furniture rule in 2004.
            (11) The Commission has reported to the Congress its intent 
        to begin work on a rule to improve the fire resistance of 
        mattresses in 2004.
            (12) The use of fire retardant chemicals is all but certain 
        to increase with the promulgation of new, stricter standards 
        that make products more fire resistant.
            (13) The history of fire retardants being removed from the 
        United States market, including asbestos, tris, and 2 types of 
        brominated fire retardant chemicals (penta and octa 
        polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDEs)), points to the need for 
        caution when evaluating fire retardants' impact on human 
        health.
            (14) Recent peer-reviewed scientific studies show that 
        brominated fire-retardant chemicals are now present in the food 
        chain, especially fish.
            (15) Recent European research has shown, and United States 
        research has confirmed, the presence of brominated fire-
        retardant chemicals in women's breast milk. The European 
        research showed that the presence of these chemicals in breast 
        milk has been doubling every 5 years.
            (16) California has banned the use of certain brominated 
        chemicals, and Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, New 
        York, and Washington have regulated or are considering 
        regulating the manufacture, release, use or sale of PBDEs.
            (17) Fire-retardant chemicals are currently regulated in a 
        way that has the potential to leave gaps in information needed 
        to evaluate the chemicals' impact on human health.

SEC. 3. EVALUATION OF FIRE RESISTANCE METHODOLOGIES AND SAFETY.

    (a) Bedclothing and Pillows.--Within 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall 
conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the interaction of bedclothing 
with the mattress in a fire, and an evaluation of methodologies to 
improve the fire resistance of these products. Within 1 year after the 
commencement of the study the Commission shall transmit a report to the 
Congress containing the Commission's findings and recommendations.
    (b) Candles.--
            (1) In general.--Within 270 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Commission shall evaluate--
                    (A) the current risk candles create as ignition 
                sources in the home;
                    (B) the effectiveness of the ASTM International 
                Standard Specification for Fire Safety for Candles 
                (Designation F 2417-04); and
                    (C) the number of domestic and imported candles in 
                the stream of commerce that comply with the voluntary 
                standard.
            (2) Report.--Within 18 months after the commencement of the 
        study the Commission shall transmit a report to the Congress 
        containing the Commission's findings and recommendations.
    (c) Upholstered Furniture.--If the Commission has not promulgated a 
rule to improve the fire retardancy of upholstered furniture by June 1, 
2005, the Commission shall transmit a report to Congress by June 30, 
2005, that explains why the Commission did not issue the rule. The 
report shall provide a detailed description of the proposed rule, the 
advantages and disadvantages of the proposed rule, and a cost-benefit 
analysis of the proposed rule.
    (d) Mattresses.--
            (1) In general.--If the Commission has not issued an 
        advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding fire safe 
        mattresses by June 1, 2005, the Commission shall--
                    (A) initiate by June 30, 2005, a study to evaluate 
                methodologies to improve the fire resistance of 
                mattresses; and
                    (B) perform a comparative cost-benefit analysis on 
                a mattress standard that would mandate 30 minutes of 
                flashover prevention, 45 minutes of flashover 
                prevention, and 60 minutes of flashover prevention.
            (2) Report.--Within 6 months after the commencement of the 
        study the Commission shall transmit a report to the Congress 
        containing the Commission's findings and recommendations.

SEC. 4. FIRE-RETARDANT CHEMICAL REGISTRY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than June 1, 2005, the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission shall create a registry of fire-retardant chemicals.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of the registry shall be to identify, 
quantify, and describe the market of fire-retardant chemicals sold for 
use in or on Commission-regulated products sold or used in the United 
States, and identify studies that manufacturers of such chemicals have 
published, made public, or otherwise made available to State, Federal, 
or foreign regulatory authorities.
    (c) Contents.--The registry shall include--
            (1) a list of all manufacturers producing fire-retardant 
        chemicals for sale or use in or on Commission-regulated 
        products sold or used in the United States;
            (2) for each of those manufacturers, a list of all fire-
        retardant chemicals sold for use in or on Commission-regulated 
        products sold or used in the United States;
            (3) a ranking of sales by each of those manufacturers of 
        the fire-retardant chemicals sold for use in or on Commission-
        regulated products sold or used in the United States, measured 
        by volume of chemicals sold; and
            (4) a list of studies and reports those manufacturers have 
        performed on the human impacts of their fire-retardant 
        chemicals sold for use in or on Commission-regulated products 
        sold or used in the United States, that have been published, 
        made public, or otherwise made available to State, Federal, or 
        foreign regulatory authorities.
    (d) Report.--The Consumer Product Safety Commission shall submit an 
annual report on the results of the registry to Congress.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission for fiscal year 2005 $3,000,000 to carry out this 
Act, such sum to remain available until expended.D23/




                                                   Calendar No. 798D23/

108th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                              S. 1798D23/

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To provide for comprehensive fire safety standards for upholstered 
          furniture, mattresses, bedclothing, and candles.D23/

_______________________________________________________________________

                         November 10, 2004D23/

                     Reported with an amendmentD23/