I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4155 
To provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2004 
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. WELDON of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MEEHAN, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. OLVER, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. CONYERS, 
Mr. HOLT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. 
MORAN of Virginia, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. 
PALLONE, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. WEINER, Mr. WYNN, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. JONES of 
Ohio, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. 
SERRANO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and 
Mr. ROTHMAN) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cigarette Fire Safety 
Act of 2004’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Cigarette ignited fires are the leading cause 
of fire deaths in the United States. 
(2) In 1999 there were 807 deaths from ciga-
rette ignited fires, 2,193 civilian injuries from such 
fires, and $559,100,000 in property damage caused 
by such fires. 
(3) Nearly 100 children are killed each year 
from cigarette related fires. 
(4) For over 20 years former Member of Con-
gress Joseph Moakley worked on behalf of burn vic-
tims, firefighters, and every individual who has lost 
a loved one in a fire. By securing enactment of the 
Cigarette Safety Act of 1984 and the Fire Safe Cig-
arette Act of 1990, Joseph Moakley completed the 
necessary technical work for a cigarette fire safety 
standard and paved the way for a national standard. 
(5) It is appropriate for the Congress to require 
by law the establishment of a cigarette fire safety 
standard for the manufacture and importation of 
cigarettes. 
(6) A recent study by the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission found that the cost of the loss of 
human life and personal property from not having a
cigarette fire safety standard is $4,600,000,000 per 
year. 
(7) It is appropriate that the regulatory exper-
tise of the Consumer Product Safety Commission be 
used to implement a cigarette fire safety standard. 
SEC. 3. CIGARETTE FIRE SAFETY STANDARD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT FOR STANDARD.—Not later 
than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Commission shall, by rule, prescribe 
one or more fire safety standards for cigarettes that, 
except as is provided in this Act, are substantively 
the same as the standards set forth by the State of 
New York in part 429 of Title 18 of the Official 
Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the 
State of New York, as promulgated on December 
31, 2003 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘New York 
standard’’), including the Appendix to such part. 
(2) CIGARETTES WITH UNIQUE CHARACTERIS-
TICS.—For purposes of this subsection, in con-
struing section 4(c) of the New York standard, after 
‘‘The manufacturer or manufacturers of a cigarette 
that the Office of Fire Prevention and Control deter-
mines cannot be tested in accordance with the test 
method prescribed in section 3 of this Part’’ there
shall be inserted ‘‘because of unique or nontradi-
tional characteristics’’. 
(3) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—For purposes 
of this subsection, in construing section 2 of the 
New York standard, there shall be added at the end 
thereof the following: 
‘‘(j) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ shall 
mean the Consumer Product Safety Commission.’’. 
(b) PROCEDURE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The rule under subsection 
(a), and any modification thereof, shall be prescribed 
in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
(2) MODIFICATIONS.— 
(A) MODIFICATION BY SPONSOR.—If the 
sponsor of the testing methodology used under 
subsection (a)(2) modifies the testing method-
ology in any material respect, the sponsor shall 
notify the Commission of the modification, and 
the Commission may incorporate the modifica-
tion in the rule prescribed under subsection (a) 
if the Commission determines that the modifica-
tion will enhance a fire safety standard estab-
lished under subsection (a)(2).
(B) MODIFICATION BY COMMISSION.—The 
Commission may modify the rule prescribed 
under subsection (a), including the test require-
ments specified in subsection (a)(2), in whole or 
in part, only if the Commission determines that 
compliance with such modification is technically 
feasible and will enhance a fire safety standard 
established under that subsection. Any such 
modification shall not take effect earlier than 3 
years after the date on which the rule is first 
issued. 
(3) INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LAWS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—No Federal law or Ex-
ecutive order, including the laws listed in sub-
paragraph (B) but not including chapters 5, 6, 
7, and 8 of title 5, United States Code, com-
monly referred to as the Administrative Proce-
dures Act, may be construed to apply to the 
promulgation of the rule required by subsection 
(a), or a modification of the rule under para-
graph (2) of this subsection. 
(B) INCLUDED LAWS.—The Federal laws 
referred to in subparagraph (A) include the fol-
lowing:
(i) The Consumer Product Safety Act 
(15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.). 
(ii) Chapter 6 of title 5, United States 
Code. 
(iii) The National Environmental Pol-
icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 
(iv) The Small Business Regulatory 
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (Public 
Law 104–121), and the amendments made 
by that Act. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Commission shall speci-
fy in the rule prescribed under subsection (a) the effective 
date of the rule. The effective date may not be later than 
24 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(d) TREATMENT OF STANDARD.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The fire safety standard 
promulgated under subsection (a) shall be treated as 
a consumer product safety standard promulgated 
under the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 
2051 et seq.), except as provided in section 4. 
(2) TREATMENT OF CIGARETTES.—A cigarette 
shall be treated as a consumer product under section 
3(a)(1)(B) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 
U.S.C. 2052(a)(1)(B)) for purposes of this Act and
for purposes of sections 17 and 18 of the Consumer 
Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2066, 2067). 
SEC. 4. PREEMPTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—This Act, and any cigarette fire 
safety standard established or modified pursuant to sec-
tion 3, may not be construed to preempt or otherwise af-
fect in any way any law or regulation that prescribes a 
fire safety standard for cigarettes— 
(1) set forth by the State of New York in the 
New York standard; or 
(2) promulgated by any State that is more 
stringent than the fire safety standard for cigarettes 
established under this section. 
(b) PRIVATE REMEDIES.—The provisions of section 
25 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2074) 
shall apply with respect to the fire safety standard promul-
gated under section 3(a) of this Act. 
SEC. 5. SCOPE OF JURISDICTION OF CONSUMER PRODUCT 
SAFETY COMMISSION. 
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Com-
mission shall have no jurisdiction over tobacco or tobacco 
products. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Consumer Product