[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2420 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2420

 To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to ensure a uniform 
  Federal scheme of regulation of restrictions in the use of certain 
   substances in electrical products and equipment in interstate and 
               foreign commerce, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2009

 Mr. Burgess introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to ensure a uniform 
  Federal scheme of regulation of restrictions in the use of certain 
   substances in electrical products and equipment in interstate and 
               foreign commerce, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Environmental Design of Electrical 
Equipment Act (EDEE) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds and declares that--
            (1) assisting in meeting the essential needs of the United 
        States for adequate supplies of electrical products and 
        equipment is in the national interest;
            (2) ensuring a uniform Federal scheme of regulation of 
        restrictions in the use of certain substances in electrical 
        products and equipment in interstate and foreign commerce is 
        crucial to the economic, environmental, and social well-being 
        of the people of the United States in the global marketplace;
            (3) potential disparities among State laws and implementing 
        regulations that may be enacted by the several States regarding 
        the restriction of the use of substances in electrical products 
        and equipment could create barriers to interstate commerce, 
        domestic and foreign trade, and distort competition, and may 
        thereby have a direct impact on the establishment and 
        functioning of global markets; and
            (4) technological and industrial innovation for electrical 
        products and equipment can offer an improved standard of 
        living, increased public and private sector productivity, and 
        creation of new industries and employment opportunities, while 
        providing for environmentally compatible production, use, and 
        end of life disposition of such equipment.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    It is the purpose of this Act to enhance the economic, 
environmental, and social well-being of the people of the United States 
in the global marketplace by--
            (1) ensuring efficient technological development and 
        innovation in the manufacture of electrical products and 
        equipment through the prevention of potential disparities among 
        State laws and implementing regulations that may be enacted by 
        the several States regarding the restriction of the use of 
        toxic substances in electrical products and equipment that 
        could create barriers to interstate commerce, domestic and 
        foreign trade, and distort global competition; and
            (2) applying the regulatory and law enforcement process and 
        penalties of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to 
        establish uniform Federal regulation and enforcement of toxic 
        substances in electrical products and equipment.

SEC. 4. UNIFORM FEDERAL SCHEME OF REGULATION.

    (a) Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (15 
U.S.C. 2605) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Certain Applications.--
            ``(1) Electroindustry products.--As used in subsection (e), 
        the term `electroindustry product' means any product or 
        equipment that is directly used to facilitate the transmission, 
        distribution, or control of electricity, or that uses 
        electrical power for arc welding, lighting, signaling 
        protection and communication, or medical imaging, or electrical 
        motors and generators.
            ``(2) National standards.--Except for those electroindustry 
        products and product categories set forth in paragraph (3), no 
        electroindustry product shall be manufactured after July 1, 
        2010, that contains a concentration value greater than 0.1 
        percent by weight of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, 
        polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl 
        ethers (PBDE) as measured in any homogeneous material contained 
        in the electroindustry product, or a concentration value 
        greater than 0.01 percent of cadmium as measured in any 
        homogeneous material contained in the electroindustry product. 
        For purposes of this section, `homogeneous material' means a 
        material of uniform composition throughout that cannot be 
        mechanically disjointed into different materials.
            ``(3) Electroindustry products and product categories.--The 
        processing and/or use of the specified chemical substances in 
        any of the following electroindustry products and equipment 
        shall not be subject to any restriction or requirement that is 
        designed to protect against a risk of injury to health or the 
        environment, and shall in no manner be restricted, by the 
        States or any political subdivision of a State in accordance 
        with section 2617(c)(1)(B):
                    ``(A) Lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, 
                polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl 
                ethers contained in--
                            ``(i) products or equipment designed for 
                        use with a voltage rating of 300 volts or 
                        above;
                            ``(ii) products or equipment used in fixed 
                        installations; [For purposes of this 
                        subsection, `fixed installation' means a 
                        combination of equipment, systems, finished 
                        products and/or components, not including 
                        lighting equipment that encompasses lighting 
                        fixtures and lamps, assembled and/or erected by 
                        an assembler/installer at a given place to 
                        operate together in an expected environment to 
                        perform a specific task, but not intended to be 
                        placed in commerce as a single functional or 
                        commercial unit];
                            ``(iii) signaling protection and 
                        communication systems and products, including 
                        healthcare communications and emergency call 
                        systems;
                            ``(iv) surface transportation information 
                        management and control systems, subsystems, 
                        equipment, components, and services, including 
                        equipment used to design, install, operate, and 
                        maintain such systems;
                            ``(v) medical diagnostic imaging and 
                        therapy equipment and devices, communications 
                        and emergency call systems and products, 
                        modular walls, consoles, systems, products, 
                        panels, meters, and monitors used in healthcare 
                        facilities;
                            ``(vi) shunt capacitors and series 
                        capacitors;
                            ``(vii) electro-mechanical and solid-state 
                        equipment and systems for measurement, display 
                        recording, processing, and telemetry for 
                        electricity metering and associated 
                        information;
                            ``(viii) distribution and power 
                        transformers and special purpose transformers;
                            ``(ix) equipment used for mounting or 
                        testing watt-hour or demand meters such as 
                        sockets, boxes, enclosures, test blocks, test 
                        tables, and test kits;
                            ``(x) high voltage fuses, high current 
                        connectors, power circuit breakers, switchgear 
                        assemblies, surge arrestors, and insulating 
                        equipment, products, and hardware;
                            ``(xi) steam turbine generators and units;
                            ``(xii) electrical wire and cable products 
                        and accessories, not including fixture wires, 
                        appliance wires, and flexible cords as so 
                        classified by the National Electrical Code, by 
                        Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., or by the 
                        Canadian Standards Association;
                            ``(xiii) electrical conduit;
                            ``(xiv) high intensity discharge lamps;
                            ``(xv) arc welding and plasma cutting 
                        equipment designed for industrial or 
                        professional use; or
                            ``(xvi) arc welding and cutting equipment 
                        driven by mechanical means, e.g., a gasoline or 
                        diesel engine.
                    ``(B) Lead when used or contained in--
                            ``(i) steel alloys containing up to 0.35 
                        percent lead by weight, aluminum alloys 
                        containing up to 0.4 percent lead by weight and 
                        copper alloys containing up to 4 percent lead 
                        by weight;
                            ``(ii) solders with high melting 
                        temperatures, including lead-based alloys 
                        containing 85 percent or more lead by weight, 
                        and solders for--
                                    ``(I) die mounting in Light 
                                Emitting Diode applications;
                                    ``(II) the electrical connection 
                                within integrated-circuit flip-chip 
                                packages;
                                    ``(III) machined through-hole 
                                discoidal and planar array ceramic 
                                multilayer capacitors; and
                                    ``(IV) printed circuit board 
                                assemblies and point-to-point soldered 
                                assemblies, up to 40 percent lead by 
                                weight, and when used in transmission, 
                                distribution, power supply, or control 
                                devices designed to be installed in 
                                electrical outlet boxes and/or switch 
                                boxes, in emergency lighting equipment, 
                                in trip units in circuit breakers, or 
                                in sensors used for lighting control;
                            ``(iii) glass used in plasma display panels 
                        or surface conduction electron emitter displays 
                        or for flat fluorescent lamps in liquid crystal 
                        displays, or in incandescent lamps;
                            ``(iv) finishes of fine-pitch components 
                        other than connectors with a pitch of 0.65 
                        millimeters or less with nickel-iron lead 
                        frames or copper-lead frames;
                            ``(v) coatings not exceeding 0.5 percent by 
                        weight for tin babbitt alloy coated sleeve 
                        bearings;
                            ``(vi) gateway hardware between lighting 
                        controls protocols and building management 
                        protocols;
                            ``(vii) red ink used in exit signs not 
                        exceeding 0.005 milligrams per lens;
                            ``(viii) fluorescent lamps;
                            ``(ix) electrical connector coatings; or
                            ``(x) lead-bronze bearing shells and 
                        bushes.
                    ``(C) Cadmium and its compounds when used or 
                contained in--
                            ``(i) electrical contacts, cadmium plating 
                        and switch contacts, including those used in 
                        thermal protectors in lighting ballasts, and 
                        luminaires containing such ballasts; or
                            ``(ii) cadmium-copper alloys for wire 
                        conductors.
                    ``(D) Hexavalent chromium when used or contained in 
                electrical connectors, corrosion-prevention coatings 
                for fasteners and metals in emergency lighting 
                equipment or electromagnetic interference shielding, 
                and noncurrent carrying electrical devices.
                    ``(E) Mercury when used or contained in--
                            ``(i) straight fluorescent lamps for 
                        general purposes, but not exceeding 10 
                        milligrams in halophosphate lamps, 5 milligrams 
                        in triphosphate lamps with a normal lifetime, 
                        and 8 milligrams in triphosphate lamps with a 
                        long lifetime;
                            ``(ii) straight fluorescent lamps for 
                        special purposes;
                            ``(iii) compact fluorescent lamps equal to 
                        or greater than 9 inches;
                            ``(iv) compact fluorescent lamps less than 
                        25 watts, not exceeding 5 milligrams per lamp;
                            ``(v) compact fluorescent lamps equal to or 
                        greater than 25 watts, not exceeding 6 
                        milligrams per lamp;
                            ``(vi) high output/very high output linear 
                        fluorescent lamps greater than 32 millimeters 
                        in diameter;
                            ``(vii) preheat linear fluorescent lamps; 
                        or
                            ``(viii) luminaires when containing any 
                        mercury-added lamps identified under 
                        [subsection (f)(3)(E)(i)-(vii)].
                    ``(F) Any processing and/or use of a specified 
                chemical substance in an electroindustry product other 
                than those identified in this subsection as the 
                Administrator may establish by rule.''.
    (b) Section 18 of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (15 
U.S.C. 2617) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Preemption.--(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
section, no State or political subdivision of a State may, after the 
effective date of this Act, adopt or continue in effect any requirement 
that is designed to protect against a risk of injury to health or the 
environment--
            ``(A) for any electroindustry product as defined in section 
        2605(f)(1) that is inconsistent with or more stringent than the 
        national standards set forth in section 2605(f)(2); or
            ``(B) that is applicable to the processing and/or use of 
        the specified chemical substances in any of the electroindustry 
        products or electroindustry product categories set forth in 
        section 2605(f)(3).
    ``(2) Upon application of a State or political subdivision of a 
State, the Administrator may, by rule, exempt from section 2605(f)(3), 
under such conditions as may be prescribed in such rule, a requirement 
of such State or political subdivision designed to protect against an 
unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment associated 
with any of the uses of any chemical substance, mixture, or article 
containing such chemical substance or mixture specified in section 
2605(f)(3) if--
            ``(A) compliance with the requirement would not cause the 
        processing, distribution in commerce, or use of the substance, 
        mixture, or article to be in violation of the Act; and
            ``(B) the State or political subdivision requirement does 
        not, through difficulties in manufacturing, marketing, 
        distribution, or other factors, unduly burden interstate 
        commerce, or does not lessen the reliability of an electrical 
        grid or of any product or system which is the subject of any 
        such requirement of a State or political subdivision of a 
        State.
    ``(3) Compliance with the national standards set forth in section 
2605(f)(2) may be demonstrated based on any appropriate method for a 
particular electroindustry product, including without limitation, 
certifications of compliance by product manufacturers or testing 
performed in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the 
Administrator under this subsection. The Administrator shall, within 
one year from the effective date of this Act, promulgate guidelines 
establishing test procedures for determining the concentration of lead, 
mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) 
and/or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) contained in an 
electroindustry product.''.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    For fiscal year 2009, there is authorized to be appropriated 
$1,000,000 for the Administrator to implement the provisions of this 
Act.
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