II 110th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2724 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.

1.

Short title

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

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.

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. .

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.

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.