[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2724 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2724

  To amend the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety 
 Standards Act of 1974 to require that weather radios be installed in 
   all manufactured homes manufactured or sold in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 6, 2008

  Mr. Bayh (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, and Mr. Lugar) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety 
 Standards Act of 1974 to require that weather radios be installed in 
   all manufactured homes manufactured or sold in the United States.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``CJ's Home Protection Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) nearly 20,000,000 Americans live in manufactured homes, 
        which often provide a more accessible and affordable way for 
        many families to buy their own homes;
            (2) manufactured housing plays a vital role in providing 
        housing for low- and moderate-income families in the United 
        States;
            (3) NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a nationwide network of 
        radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information 
        directly from a nearby National Weather Service (NWS) office, 
        and broadcasts NWS warnings, watches, forecasts, and other all-
        hazard information 24 hours a day;
            (4) the operators of manufactured housing communities 
        should be encouraged to provide a safe place of shelter for 
        community residents or a plan for the evacuation of community 
        residents to a safe place of shelter within a reasonable 
        distance of the community for use by community residents in 
        times of severe weather, including tornados and high winds, and 
        local municipalities should be encouraged to require approval 
        of these plans;
            (5) the operators of manufactured housing communities 
        should be encouraged to provide a written reminder semiannually 
        to all owners of manufactured homes in the manufactured housing 
        community to replace the batteries in their weather radios; and
            (6) weather radio manufacturers should include, in the 
        packaging of weather radios, a written reminder to replace the 
        batteries twice each year and written instructions on how to do 
        so.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS.

    Section 605 of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and 
Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5404) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Weather Radios.--
            ``(1) Provision of installation instructions.--A 
        manufacturer shall provide with each manufactured home (other 
        than a manufactured home affixed to a permanent foundation), 
        instructions for the installation of a weather radio required 
        under this section.
            ``(2) Model installation standards.--The Federal 
        manufactured home installation standards established by the 
        Secretary under this section shall require that each 
        manufactured home (other than a manufactured home affixed to a 
        permanent foundation) shall be installed with a weather radio 
        inside the manufactured home that--
                    ``(A) is capable of broadcasting emergency 
                information relating to local weather conditions;
                    ``(B) is equipped with a tone alarm;
                    ``(C) is equipped with Specific Alert Message 
                Encoding, or SAME technology; and
                    ``(D) complies with Consumer Electronics 
                Association (CEA) Standard 2009-A (or current revision 
                thereof) Performance Specification for Public Alert 
                Receivers.
            ``(3) Responsibility of manufactured home installers.--It 
        shall be the duty of manufactured home installers to ensure 
        that manufactured homes (other than manufactured homes affixed 
        to a permanent foundation) are supplied and installed with a 
        weather radio required under this subsection.
            ``(4) Definition of affixed to a permanent foundation.--For 
        purposes of this subsection, the term `affixed to a permanent 
        foundation' has the meaning given that term in the Department 
        of Housing and Urban Development's publication entitled 
        `Permanent Foundations Guide For Manufactured Housing' dated 
        September 1996.
            ``(5) Liability protections.--
                    ``(A) Immunity for manufacturers.--Manufacturers of 
                manufactured homes shall be immune from common law 
                civil liability for any aspect of the installation, 
                furnishing, function, operation, performance, 
                capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio 
                mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation 
                standards promulgated in accordance with this 
                subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
                    ``(B) Immunity for installers.--Manufactured home 
                installers shall be immune from common law civil 
                liability for any aspect of the installation, 
                furnishing, function, operation, performance, 
                capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio 
                mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation 
                standards promulgated in accordance with this 
                subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
                    ``(C) Immunity for retailers.--Retailers of 
                manufactured homes shall be immune from common law 
                civil liability for any aspect of the installation, 
                furnishing, function, operation, performance, 
                capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio 
                mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation 
                standards promulgated in accordance with this 
                subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
                    ``(D) Immunity for operators of housing 
                communities.--Any reminder, assistance, or instructions 
                provided by the operator of a manufactured housing 
                community concerning the function of a weather radio 
                contained in a manufactured home shall not subject the 
                operator, an owner or employee of the manufactured home 
                community, or the manufacturer of the manufactured home 
                to liability for the functionality of that weather 
                radio.
            ``(6) Exemption for modular homes.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The installation standards 
                required to be established under paragraph (2) shall 
                not apply to modular homes.
                    ``(B) Definition of modular home.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the term `modular home' has the meaning 
                given such term in the law of the State in which the 
                modular home is located.''.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT.

    Not later than the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the consensus committee established 
pursuant to section 604(a)(3) of the National Manufactured Housing 
Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(a)(3)) 
shall develop and submit to the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development a proposed Federal manufactured home installation standards 
required under section 605(d) of such Act (as added by the amendment 
made by section 3 of this Act). Notwithstanding section 604(a)(5)(B) of 
such Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall issue a 
final order promulgating the standard required by such section 605(i) 
not later than the expiration of the 90-day period beginning upon 
receipt by the Secretary of the proposed standard developed and 
submitted by the consensus committee.

SEC. 5. STUDY.

    The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall conduct a 
study regarding conditioning the applicability of the requirement under 
the amendment made by section 3 of this Act (relating to the 
installation of weather radios in manufactured homes) on the geographic 
location at which a manufactured home is placed, but only to the extent 
that such requirement applies to new manufactured homes and new site-
built homes. In conducting such study and making determinations under 
to the study, the Secretary shall take into consideration severe 
weather conditions, such as high winds and flooding, and wind zones and 
other severe weather data available from the National Weather Service. 
Not later than the expiration of the 18-month period beginning on the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete the 
study and submit a report regarding the results of the study to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and to 
the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.
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