[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14382-14384]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1240
                CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING PREVENTION ACT

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1796) to amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to require 
residential carbon monoxide detectors to meet the applicable ANSI/UL 
standard by treating that standard as a consumer product safety rule, 
to encourage States to require the installation of such detectors in 
homes, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1796

       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 ``Carbon Monoxide Poisoning 
     Prevention Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced 
     by burning any fuel. Exposure to unhealthy levels of carbon 
     monoxide can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, a serious 
     health condition that could result in death.
       (2) Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning from motor 
     vehicles and the abnormal operation of fuel-burning 
     appliances, such as furnaces, water heaters, portable 
     generators, and stoves, in residential homes and other 
     dwelling units kills more than 400 people each year and sends 
     more than 20,000 to hospital emergency rooms for treatment.
       (3) Research shows that purchasing and installing carbon 
     monoxide alarms close to the sleeping areas in residential 
     homes and other dwelling units can help avoid fatalities.
       (4) Congress should promote the purchase and installation 
     of carbon monoxide alarms in residential homes and dwelling 
     units nationwide in order to promote the health and public 
     safety of citizens throughout the Nation.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       For purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
       (1) The term ``approved carbon monoxide alarm'' means a 
     carbon monoxide alarm that complies with the standards 
     published, incorporated, or amended by the Commission with 
     respect to such alarms pursuant to this Act.
       (2) The term ``carbon monoxide alarm'' means a device that 
     detects carbon monoxide and sounds a distinctive audible 
     alert before concentrations of carbon monoxide reach levels 
     that would cause symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
       (3) The term ``Commission'' means the Consumer Product 
     Safety Commission.
       (4) The term ``dwelling unit'' means a room or suite of 
     rooms used for human habitation, and includes a single family 
     residence as well as each living unit of a multiple family 
     residence (including apartment buildings) and each living 
     unit in a mixed use building.
       (5) The term ``fire code enforcement officials'' means 
     officials of the fire safety code enforcement agency of a 
     State or local government.
       (6) The term ``NFPA 720'' means the Standard for the 
     Installation of Carbon Monoxide Warning Equipment in Dwelling 
     Units issued by the National Fire Protection Association in 
     2008, and any amended or similar successor standard 
     pertaining to the proper installation of carbon monoxide 
     alarms in dwelling units.

     SEC. 4. ADOPTION OF CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY RULES.

       (a) Mandatory Standards.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Commission shall publish in the 
     Federal Register as mandatory consumer product safety 
     standards the American National Standard for Single and 
     Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms (ANSI/UL 2034) and 
     the American National Standard for Gas and Vapor Detectors 
     and Sensors (ANSI/UL 2075). Such mandatory consumer product 
     safety standards shall take effect 180 days after they are 
     published.
       (b) Revision of Standards.--Beginning 1 year after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, if either standard described in 
     subsection (a) is revised through the applicable consensus 
     standards development process, Underwriters Laboratories 
     shall notify the Commission of the revision and the revision 
     shall be incorporated in the consumer product safety rule 
     unless, within 60 days of such notice, the Commission 
     determines that such revision does not carry out the purposes 
     of this Act and publishes the basis for such a determination 
     in the Federal Register.
       (c) Rulemaking.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     this Act, the Commission may, at any time subsequent to 
     publication of the consumer product safety standards required 
     by subsection (a), initiate a rulemaking in accordance with 
     section 553 of title 5, United States Code, to amend either 
     standard to include any provision that the Commission 
     determines is reasonably necessary to ensure the safe and 
     effective operation of carbon monoxide alarms.
       (d) Treatment of Standards for Purposes of Enforcement.--
     For purposes of enforcement under the Consumer Product Safety 
     Act, the standards published by the Commission pursuant to 
     subsection (a), including any revision to

[[Page 14383]]

     such standards pursuant to subsection (b) or (c), shall be 
     consumer product safety rules as defined in section 3(a)(6) 
     of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(6)).

     SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

       Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, the Commission shall complete a study to evaluate 
     whether requiring a language or languages in addition to 
     English would improve the effectiveness of the label required 
     of manufacturers of portable generators by the Commission 
     under part 1407 of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, to 
     warn consumers of carbon monoxide hazards.

     SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM FOR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING 
                   PREVENTION.

       (a) In General.--Subject to the availability of 
     appropriations authorized by subsection (f), the Commission 
     shall establish a grant program to provide assistance to 
     eligible States and local governments to carry out the carbon 
     monoxide poisoning prevention activities in subsection (d).
       (b) Eligibility.--To be eligible for a grant under the 
     program, a State or local government shall--
       (1) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Commission that 
     a State or local government has adopted a statute, or a State 
     or local government agency has adopted a rule, regulation, or 
     similar measure with the force and effect of law, requiring 
     approved carbon monoxide alarms to be installed in accordance 
     with NFPA 720 in dwelling units; and
       (2) submit an application to the Commission at such time, 
     in such form, and containing such additional information as 
     the Commission may require, which application may be filed on 
     behalf of any qualified State or local government by the fire 
     code enforcement officials for such State or local 
     government.
       (c) Grant Amount; Priority.--The Commission shall determine 
     the amount of the grants awarded under this section, and 
     shall give priority to applications from States or local 
     governments that--
       (1) require approved carbon monoxide alarms to be installed 
     in each existing dwelling unit--
       (A) within which a fuel-burning appliance is installed, 
     including a furnace, boiler, water heater, fireplace, or any 
     other apparatus, appliance, or device that burns fuel; or
       (B) which has an attached garage;
       (2) propose to serve vulnerable populations such as 
     children, the elderly, or low-income households; and
       (3) demonstrate greater than average losses of life from 
     carbon monoxide poisoning in the home.
       (d) Use of Funds.--A State receiving a grant under this 
     section may use grant funds--
       (1) to purchase and install approved carbon monoxide alarms 
     in the dwelling units of low-income families or elderly 
     persons, facilities that commonly serve children or the 
     elderly, including childcare facilities, public schools, and 
     senior centers, or student dwelling units owned by public 
     universities;
       (2) to train State or local fire code enforcement officials 
     in the proper enforcement of State or local laws concerning 
     approved carbon monoxide alarms and the installation of such 
     alarms in accordance with NFPA 720;
       (3) for the development and dissemination of training 
     materials, instructors, and any other costs related to the 
     training sessions authorized by this subsection; and
       (4) to educate the public about the risk associated with 
     carbon monoxide as a poison and the importance of proper 
     carbon monoxide alarm use.
       (e) Limitation on Use of Funds.--
       (1) Administrative costs.--No more than 10 percent of any 
     grant funds may be used to cover administrative costs not 
     directly related to training described in paragraph (2) of 
     subsection (d).
       (2) Public outreach.--No more than 25 percent of any grant 
     may be used to cover costs of activities described in 
     paragraph (4) of subsection (d).
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Commission $2,000,000 for each of 
     fiscal years 2011 through 2015 to carry out this Act, such 
     sums to remain available until expended. Any amounts 
     appropriated pursuant to this paragraph that remain 
     unexpended and unobligated at the end of fiscal year 2015 
     shall be retained by the Commission and credited to the 
     appropriations account that funds enforcement of the Consumer 
     Product Safety Act.
       (g) Commission Report.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     last day of each fiscal year for which grants are made under 
     this section, the Commission shall submit to Congress a 
     report evaluating the implementation of the grant program 
     authorized by this section.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 1796, the Residential Carbon Monoxide 
Poisoning Prevention Act, sponsored by Representative Jim Matheson of 
Utah.
  Carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people each year and 
sends more than 20,000 people to hospital emergency rooms for 
treatment. Carbon monoxide can build up in your home in a furnace or 
some other fuel-burning appliance if it isn't functioning properly.
  What makes this gas particularly dangerous is that you can't see it 
or smell it. At least with a fire, you can see the flames, smell the 
smoke, or feel the heat. With carbon monoxide, in many cases, all you 
start to feel is flu-like symptoms. You have no idea you are facing 
something even more dangerous.
  But there is a simple and effective way to combat carbon monoxide 
poisoning: installing a carbon monoxide alarm in your home.
  H.R. 1796 takes two important steps to promote the use of carbon 
monoxide alarms in homes and other places:
  First, this legislation makes the voluntary industry standards for 
carbon monoxide alarms mandatory consumer product safety standards. 
This means these lifesaving devices will be required to meet these 
performance standards rather than allowing compliance to just be 
voluntary. If we are going to encourage the use of a safety device, 
then we must be sure that it meets and will continue to meet industry 
performance standards. Putting in place mandatory standards means that 
if a carbon monoxide alarm doesn't meet the relevant performance 
standard, then it cannot be sold in the United States and it will be 
subject to action by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
  Secondly, this legislation authorizes a grant program to encourage 
States to adopt laws to expand the use of carbon monoxide alarms in all 
homes with fuel-burning appliances or attached garages. The 
authorization for their program is very modest, just $2 million in each 
of fiscal years 2011 through 2015. The funds will help States and local 
governments with strong carbon monoxide alarm laws to carry out 
training for enforcement of those laws, educate the public about the 
dangers of carbon monoxide, and, most importantly, to purchase alarms 
for low-income and elderly households and other places serving 
vulnerable populations.
  I want to thank my colleagues in the minority for working with us on 
this legislation. I want to salute my colleague, Representative 
Matheson. I would also like to thank the industry and other 
stakeholders for offering their advice to help improve this legislation 
and for their support of this measure.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise not really in 
opposition to H.R. 1796, the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning 
Prevention Act--in fact, parts of this legislation I am very much in 
favor of, particularly regarding the encouragement in the grant program 
to try to help people to know of what the gentleman from Maryland just 
said in regard to the danger of carbon monoxide, which is colorless and 
odorless. It causes far too many poisonings and, indeed, deaths. I 
think, 170 Americans each year. One would be too many, Madam Speaker.
  I question, somewhat, the necessity of making the standards for the 
detectors going from a voluntary standard to a mandatory standard.
  But in regard to encouraging widespread use of the detectors, not 
only in places of business but, absolutely, in a home setting where a 
lot of times you have got these generators because of a power outage or 
camping equipment that, you know, is misused or malfunctions and it 
leads to these tragedies that we are trying to avoid.
  I absolutely commend my colleagues, and in particular my friend from 
Utah, Jim Matheson, in bringing this bill forward. I was very 
supportive in the committee markup.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to relate the 
same story that I did in committee, a true

[[Page 14384]]

 story, unfortunately. When I was growing up, my parents owned what you 
might refer to as a mom-and-pop motel, sort of like a Motel 6, except I 
think we had 25 units and we charged $8 a night for one person and $10 
a night for two, but that was a family business.
  For a number of years, Madam Speaker, we didn't have a home. My 
parents had an efficiency apartment in the office of the motel. Most of 
the time we would have vacancies, so my two brothers and I would spend 
the night in one of the motel rooms, and it would vary from night to 
night.
  I was about, I guess, 13 years old, one weekend in unit 1. Unit 
number 1 was a unit with two double beds. It was a larger unit of our 
25-unit motel, so we would always like to stay in unit number 1. On the 
weekend, a cold winter night, my brother was 14, I was 13, and his best 
friend was 14, and we stayed in unit number 1.
  Well, the very next weekend, unit number 1 was rented, so we weren't 
able to stay there. I remember going to mass on Sunday morning. My dad 
was Methodist, my mom was a Catholic, and Mom took my two brothers and 
me to mass.

                              {time}  1250

  When we came back, unfortunately in the parking lot of that motel I 
saw what I had never seen before, a beige-brown hearse--in fact, two or 
three of them--in the parking lot of this motel.
  Madam Speaker, what had happened is three soldiers that weekend 
stayed in unit No. 1; they were 18-19 years old. They had crossed the 
State line because you could drink beer in South Carolina when you were 
18 years old, and you couldn't do it in Georgia, so we would get a lot 
of weekend business from the military. These young soldiers got 
asphyxiated that night with carbon monoxide poisoning. It was just such 
a devastating thing to my dad. It just about caused him to lose his 
mind, quite honestly, and his business, even though it wasn't his 
fault. It was a faulty heater that the way the wind was blowing that 
night, it blew the burnt fuel back into the room, and these three 
soldiers, young boys, God bless them, lost their lives that night.
  So when Representative Matheson brought this bill before the Energy 
and Commerce Committee, as you know, Madam Speaker, as also a committee 
member, man, it brought all of that back. It was 55 years ago that that 
happened, and it was just like it was yesterday.
  So I commend the gentleman, I absolutely do. I have some concerns 
about changing from a voluntary standard to a mandatory standard; but 
this is good work, this is good legislation, and for that reason I am 
going to support it.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, our colleague from Georgia's story 
really puts a punctuation mark on why this legislation is so critical.
  I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of 
the legislation, Representative Matheson from Utah.
  Mr. MATHESON. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to talk about this 
bill today.
  This legislation, quite frankly, addresses an issue that has been 
growing in awareness, but it still requires attention in order to 
significantly reduce the number of easily preventable injuries and 
deaths caused by carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States.
  Annually, over 500 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning and an 
additional 15,000 are hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning 
sickness. Unfortunately, many of these individuals are already at risk, 
the elderly and children.
  In many cities and States, including my home State of Utah, local 
governments have really addressed this issue. They are at the forefront 
of an effort to pass legislation aimed at reducing carbon monoxide 
poisonings in homes, and I hope this legislation will expand those 
efforts.
  The risks of this type of poisoning are real, yet the danger is 
poorly understood. Carbon monoxide poisonings are often misdiagnosed as 
stomach flu, and individuals can unknowingly spend hours inside homes 
which have dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide. Nearly all of 
these incidents could have been easily prevented with functioning 
carbon monoxide alarms. This legislation aims to cut down on those 
numbers while increasing awareness of the issues by taking three simple 
steps: number one, it codifies accepted scientific standards for carbon 
monoxide alarms into law; number two, it examines whether carbon 
monoxide warnings on portable generators should be expanded; and, 
number three, it establishes a grant program for States and local 
governments to provide carbon monoxide alarms and raise awareness of 
carbon monoxide poisoning.
  Madam Speaker, I would also like to point out that this is a bill 
that has gone through a legislative process. We held hearings. And from 
the original bill that was introduced, the text has changed. That is 
what we are here to do as legislators is we try to work through things. 
And through the Energy and Commerce Committee, in bringing in witnesses 
to learn more about this issue, we have perfected this bill and made it 
better.
  I really want to acknowledge the efforts of everyone on the Energy 
and Commerce Committee, in a bipartisan way, trying to address this 
issue as best we could. That is what we are supposed to do here in 
Congress. There is a lot of bickering going on in Washington these 
days, but here's an example where folks actually sat down and rolled up 
their sleeves and tried to address an issue in a constructive way. So I 
want to acknowledge that effort on both sides of the aisle, and I 
encourage all my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, again, we can't emphasize enough the 
importance of this legislation. You've heard recounted here the tragic 
stories of what happens when you don't have these kinds of mechanisms 
in place and you don't have the education to support people in terms of 
bringing this into their homes. And so I want to again congratulate 
Representative Matheson for his efforts, thank my colleagues for the 
bipartisan support of this measure, and urge its passage today.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1796, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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