I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1850 

To provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2005 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cigarette Fire Safety 

5 Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Cigarette ignited fires are the leading cause 

9 of fire deaths in the United States. 

10 (2) In 1999 there were 807 deaths from ciga11 rette ignited fires, 2,193 civilian injuries from such 
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1 fires, and $559,100,000 in property damage caused 

2 by such fires. 

3 (3) Nearly 100 children are killed each year 

4 from cigarette related fires. 

5 (4) For over 20 years former Member of Con6 gress Joseph Moakley worked on behalf of burn vic7 tims, firefighters, and every individual who has lost 

8 a loved one in a fire. By securing enactment of the 

9 Cigarette Safety Act of 1984 and the Fire Safe Cig10 arette Act of 1990, Joseph Moakley completed the 

11 necessary technical work for a cigarette fire safety 

12 standard and paved the way for a national standard. 

13 (5) It is appropriate for the Congress to require 

14 by law the establishment of a cigarette fire safety 

15 standard for the manufacture and importation of 

16 cigarettes. 

17 (6) A recent study by the Consumer Product 

18 Safety Commission found that the cost of the loss of 

19 human life and personal property from not having a 

20 cigarette fire safety standard is $4,600,000,000 per 

21 year. 

22 (7) It is appropriate that the regulatory exper23 tise of the Consumer Product Safety Commission be 

24 used to implement a cigarette fire safety standard. 
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1 SEC. 3. CIGARETTE FIRE SAFETY STANDARD. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 (1) REQUIREMENT FOR STANDARD.—Not later 

4 than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 

5 this Act, the Commission shall, by rule, prescribe 

6 one or more fire safety standards for cigarettes that, 

7 except as is provided in this Act, are substantively 

8 the same as the standards set forth by the State of 

9 New York in part 429 of Title 18 of the Official 

10 Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the 

11 State of New York, as promulgated on December 

12 31, 2003 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘New York 

13 standard’’), including the Appendix to such part. 

14 (2) CIGARETTES WITH UNIQUE CHARACTERIS15 TICS.—For purposes of this subsection, in con16 struing section 4(c) of the New York standard, after 

17 ‘‘The manufacturer or manufacturers of a cigarette 

18 that the Office of Fire Prevention and Control deter19 mines cannot be tested in accordance with the test 

20 method prescribed in section 3 of this Part’’ there 

21 shall be inserted ‘‘because of unique or nontradi22 tional characteristics’’. 

23 (3) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—For purposes 

24 of this subsection, in construing section 2 of the 

25 New York standard, there shall be added at the end 

26 thereof the following: 
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1 ‘‘(j) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ shall 

2 mean the Consumer Product Safety Commission.’’. 

3 (b) PROCEDURE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The rule under subsection 

5 (a), and any modification thereof, shall be prescribed 

6 in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 

7 States Code. 

8 (2) MODIFICATIONS.— 

9 (A) MODIFICATION BY SPONSOR.—If the 

10 sponsor of the testing methodology used under 

11 subsection (a)(2) modifies the testing method12 ology in any material respect, the sponsor shall 

13 notify the Commission of the modification, and 

14 the Commission may incorporate the modifica15 tion in the rule prescribed under subsection (a) 

16 if the Commission determines that the modifica17 tion will enhance a fire safety standard estab18 lished under subsection (a)(2). 

19 (B) MODIFICATION BY COMMISSION.—The 

20 Commission may modify the rule prescribed 

21 under subsection (a), including the test require22 ments specified in subsection (a)(2), in whole or 

23 in part, only if the Commission determines that 

24 compliance with such modification is technically 

25 feasible and will enhance a fire safety standard 
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1 established under that subsection. Any such 

2 modification shall not take effect earlier than 3 

3 years after the date on which the rule is first 

4 issued. 

5 (3) INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LAWS.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—No Federal law or Ex7 ecutive order, including the laws listed in sub8 paragraph (B) but not including chapters 5, 6, 

9 7, and 8 of title 5, United States Code, com10 monly referred to as the Administrative Proce11 dures Act, may be construed to apply to the 

12 promulgation of the rule required by subsection 

13 (a), or a modification of the rule under para14 graph (2) of this subsection. 

15 (B) INCLUDED LAWS.—The Federal laws 

16 referred to in subparagraph (A) include the fol17 lowing: 

18 (i) The Consumer Product Safety Act 

19 (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.). 

20 (ii) Chapter 6 of title 5, United States 

21 Code. 

22 (iii) The National Environmental Pol23 icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

24 (iv) The Small Business Regulatory 

25 Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (Public 
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1 Law 104–121), and the amendments made 

2 by that Act. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Commission shall speci4 fy in the rule prescribed under subsection (a) the effective 

5 date of the rule. The effective date may not be later than 

6 24 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

7 (d) TREATMENT OF STANDARD.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The fire safety standard 

9 promulgated under subsection (a) shall be treated as 

10 a consumer product safety standard promulgated 

11 under the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 2051 et seq.), except as provided in section 4. 

13 (2) TREATMENT OF CIGARETTES.—A cigarette 

14 shall be treated as a consumer product under section 

15 3(a)(1)(B) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

16 U.S.C. 2052(a)(1)(B)) for purposes of this Act and 

17 for purposes of sections 17 and 18 of the Consumer 

18 Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2066, 2067). 

19 SEC. 4. PREEMPTION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act, and any cigarette fire 

21 safety standard established or modified pursuant to sec22 tion 3, may not be construed to preempt or otherwise af23 fect in any way any law or regulation that prescribes a 

24 fire safety standard for cigarettes— 
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1 (1) set forth by the State of New York in the 

2 New York standard; or 

3 (2) promulgated by any State that is more 

4 stringent than the fire safety standard for cigarettes 

5 established under this section. 

6 (b) PRIVATE REMEDIES.—The provisions of section 

7 25 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2074) 

8 shall apply with respect to the fire safety standard promul9 gated under section 3(a) of this Act. 

10 SEC. 5. SCOPE OF JURISDICTION OF CONSUMER PRODUCT 

11 SAFETY COMMISSION. 

12 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Com13 mission shall have no jurisdiction over tobacco or tobacco 

14 products. 

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated to the Consumer Product 

18 Safety Commission $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 to 

19 carry out this Act. 

20 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 

21 subsection (a) shall remain available until expended. 

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