II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1216 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 9, 2009 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. NELSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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. 

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 ‘‘Residential Carbon 

5 Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas 

4 produced by burning fuel. Exposure to unhealthy 

5 levels of carbon monoxide can lead to carbon mon6 oxide poisoning, a serious health condition that could 

7 result in death. 

8 (2) Each year, carbon monoxide poisoning from 

9 the use of fuel-burning appliances, such as furnaces, 

10 water heaters, portable generators, and stoves, in 

11 residential homes and other dwelling units kills at 

12 least 500 people and sends more than 20,000 people 

13 to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. 

14 (3) Research shows that purchasing and install15 ing carbon monoxide alarms close to the sleeping 

16 areas in residential homes and other dwelling units 

17 can help avoid fatalities. 

18 (4) Congress should promote the purchase and 

19 installation of carbon monoxide alarms in residential 

20 homes and dwelling units throughout the United 

21 States in order to promote the health and public 

22 safety of all people of the United States. 


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1 SEC. 3. ADOPTION OF ANSI/UL 2034 AS CONSUMER PROD2 UCT SAFETY RULE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Consumer Product Safety 

4 Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

5 the end thereof the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 43. RESIDENTIAL CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY STANDARD.—Notwith9 standing any other provision of law, not later than 

10 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Resi11 dential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act, 

12 the Commission shall publish in the Federal Register 

13 as a mandatory consumer product safety standard 

14 the American National Standard for Single and Mul15 tiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms (American 

16 National Standard ANSI/UL 2034–2005), as in ef17 fect on the day before the date of such Act. The 

18 standard shall take effect 180 days after it is pub19 lished. 

20 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARD.—After the 

21 standard described in paragraph (1) takes effect, it 

22 shall be unlawful for any manufacturer or dis23 tributor to import into or distribute in commerce in 

24 the United States any new assembled or unassem25 bled residential carbon monoxide detector unless it 


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1 complies with such standard or any successor stand2 ard as amended under subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(3) VIOLATION.—The failure to comply with 

4 paragraph (2) shall be deemed to be a failure to 

5 comply with a consumer product safety standard 

6 under this Act and subject to all of the penalties and 

7 remedies available under this Act. 

8 ‘‘(4) OTHER TYPES OF CARBON MONOXIDE DE9 TECTORS.—Paragraph (2) shall not apply to any 

10 carbon monoxide detector not covered by the stand11 ard as provided in section 1.4 of the standard. 

12 ‘‘(b) LABELING.—Beginning 1 year after the date of 

13 the enactment of the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poi14 soning Prevention Act, a manufacturer selling or offering 

15 for sale in the United States a residential carbon monoxide 

16 detector manufactured more than 1 year after the date 

17 of the enactment of such Act, shall clearly identify on any 

18 container of the detector and on the detector its conform19 ance with the requirements of the consumer product safety 

20 standard promulgated under subsection (a). 

21 ‘‘(c) MODIFICATION OF STANDARD.— 

22 ‘‘(1) ANSI REVISIONS.—If the American Na23 tional Standard ANSI/UL 2034–2008 is revised 

24 through the applicable consensus standards develop25 ment process after the date on which the product 


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1 safety standard for residential carbon monoxide de2 tectors is published in the Federal Register pursuant 

3 to subsection (a)(1), the American National Stand4 ards Institute shall notify the Commission of the re5 vision. 

6 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION ACTION.—Within 120 days 

7 after it receives notice of such a revision by the 

8 American National Standards Institute, the Com9 mission shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking 

10 in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 

11 States Code, to amend the product safety standard 

12 for residential carbon monoxide detectors to include 

13 any such revision that the Commission determines is 

14 reasonably related to the performance of such detec15 tors, and notify the Institute of any revision it has 

16 determined not to be so related. The Commission 

17 shall promulgate an amendment to the standard for 

18 such detectors not later than 180 days after the date 

19 on which the notice of proposed rulemaking for the 

20 amendment is published in the Federal Register. 

21 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.— 

22 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the 

23 Commission may, pursuant to sections 7 and 9 of 

24 this Act, amend the product safety standard for resi25 dential carbon monoxide detectors to include any adVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:25 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216

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1 ditional provision that the Commission determines is 

2 reasonably necessary to ensure their safe and effec3 tive operation. 

4 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN PROVISIONS NOT APPLICABLE.— 

5 Sections 7 and 9 of this Act shall not apply to pro6 mulgation of any amendment of the product safety 

7 standard under paragraph (2). Judicial review of 

8 any amendment of the standard under paragraph 

9 (2) shall be in accordance with chapter 7 of title 5, 

10 United States Code.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con12 tents of the Consumer Product Safety Act is amended by 

13 inserting after the item relating to section 42 the fol14 lowing: 

‘‘Sec. 43. Residential carbon monoxide detectors.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. FINAL PORTABLE GENERATOR RULE. 

16 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commis18 sion shall issue a final rule in its proceeding entitled Port19 able Generators for which the Commission issued an ad20 vance notice of proposed rulemaking on December 12, 

21 2006 (71 FR 74472), that includes a requirement that 

22 portable generators incorporate an automatic shut-off fea23 ture if compliance with such a requirement is techno24 logically feasible. 


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1 SEC. 5. STATE GRANT PROGRAM FOR CARBON MONOXIDE 

2 ALARMS. 

3 (a) STATE APPROVED CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM

4 GRANT PROGRAM.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

6 appropriations authorized by subsection (c), the 

7 Consumer Product Safety Commission shall estab8 lish a grant program to provide assistance to eligible 

9 States to carry out a carbon monoxide alarm pro10 gram. 

11 (2) ELIGIBILITY.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for a 

13 grant under the program, a State shall— 

14 (i) demonstrate to the satisfaction of 

15 the Commission that the State has enacted 

16 legislation, or a State agency has promul17 gated a State-wide rule, regulation, or 

18 similar measure with the force and effect 

19 of law that— 

20 (I) requires approved carbon 

21 monoxide alarms be installed in ac22 cordance with NFPA 720 in all com23 mercial residential dwelling units and 

24 all new dwelling unit construction; 

25 and 


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1 (II) provides penalties for failure 

2 to install such alarms; and 

3 (ii) submit an application to the Com4 mission at such time, in such form, and 

5 containing such additional information as 

6 the Commission may require. 

7 (B) APPLICATION SUBMITTAL.—Submittal 

8 of an application under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

9 may be submitted on behalf of any qualified 

10 State by the fire code enforcement officials for 

11 such State. 

12 (3) GRANT AMOUNT; PRIORITY.—The Commis13 sion shall determine the amount of the grants 

14 awarded under this section, and shall give priority 

15 to— 

16 (A) multi-State applications (including 

17 those made by a nonprofit organization rep18 resenting fire code enforcement officials on be19 half of more than 1 State) if all participating 

20 States meet the requirements of paragraph (2); 

21 and 

22 (B) States demonstrating greater than av23 erage losses of life from carbon monoxide poi24 soning in the home. 


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1 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—A State receiving a grant 

2 under this section may use grant funds— 

3 (A) to train that State’s fire code enforce4 ment officials in the proper enforcement of 

5 State laws concerning approved carbon mon6 oxide alarms and the installation of such alarms 

7 in accordance with NFPA 720; 

8 (B) for the development and dissemination 

9 of training materials, instructors, and any other 

10 costs related to the training sessions authorized 

11 by this paragraph; and 

12 (C) to educate the public about the risk as13 sociated with carbon monoxide as a poison and 

14 the importance of proper carbon monoxide 

15 alarm use. 

16 (5) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.— 

17 (A) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more 

18 than 10 percent of any grant awarded under 

19 this section may be used for administrative 

20 costs not directly related to training described 

21 in paragraph (4)(A). 

22 (B) PUBLIC OUTREACH.—Not more than 

23 25 percent a grant awarded under this section 

24 may be used for the activities described in para25 graph (4)(C). 


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1 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) APPROVED CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM.— 

3 The term ‘‘approved carbon monoxide alarm’’ means 

4 a carbon monoxide alarm that complies with the 

5 standards, whether voluntary or mandatory, issued, 

6 approved, or otherwise supported by the Commission 

7 with respect to such alarms, whether those stand8 ards have been developed unilaterally by the Com9 mission or in conjunction with other parties. 

10 (2) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM.—The term 

11 ‘‘carbon monoxide alarm’’ means a device that de12 tects the presence of carbon monoxide and sounds 

13 an alarm if the level of carbon monoxide detected by 

14 the device poses a health risk to persons within the 

15 vicinity of the device. 

16 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

17 means the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

18 (4) DWELLING UNIT.—The term ‘‘dwelling 

19 unit’’ means a room or suite of rooms used for 

20 human habitation, and includes a single family resi21 dence as well as each living unit of a multiple family 

22 residence (including apartment buildings) and each 

23 living unit in a mixed use building. 

24 (5) FIRE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.— 

25 The term ‘‘fire code enforcement officials’’ means ofVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:25 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216

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1 ficials of the Fire Safety Code Enforcement Agency 

2 of a State. 

3 (6) NFPA 720.—The term ‘‘NFPA 720’’ 

4 means the Standard for the Installation of Carbon 

5 Monoxide (CO) Warning Equipment in Dwelling 

6 Units issued by the National Fire Protection Asso7 ciation in 2008 and any amended or similar suc8 cessor standard pertaining to the proper installation 

9 of carbon monoxide alarms in dwelling units. 

10 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to the Commission 

12 $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014 

13 to carry out this section, such sums to remain available 

14 until expended. Any amounts appropriated pursuant to 

15 this subsection that remain unexpended and unobligated 

16 at the end of fiscal year 2014 shall be retained by the 

17 Commission and credited to the appropriations account 

18 that funds enforcement of the Consumer Products Safety 

19 Act. 

20 (d) COMMISSION REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

21 after the last day of each fiscal year for which grants are 

22 made under this section, the Commission shall submit to 

23 Congress a report evaluating the implementation of the 

24 grant program authorized by this section. 

Æ 


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