American Home Fire Safety Act

Bill: 108-s-1798
Sponsor: Sen. Hollings, Ernest F. [D-SC]
Introduced: 2003-10-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Chemical industries
Chemicals
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Consumer protection
Cost effectiveness
Emergency Management
Finance and Financial Sector
Fire prevention
Flammable materials
Furniture industry
Government Operations and Politics
Independent regulatory commissions
Law
Product safety
Standards
Textile fabrics

Summary:
action_date: 2003-10-30
text: 
American Home Fire Safety Act - Requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate, as final consumer product safety standards under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), specified fire safety standards for upholstered furniture, mattresses, bedclothing, and candles. 
 
Makes certain CPSA promulgation requirements inapplicable to the standards required to be promulgated by this Act.

action_date: 2004-11-10
text: 
American Home Fire Safety Act - Requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to evaluate and report to Congress on: (1) the interaction of bedclothing with the mattress in a fire and methodologies to improve the fire resistance of these products; (2) the current risk candles create as an ignition source in the home and the effectiveness of and level of compliance with the ASTM International Standard Specification for Fire Safety for Candles.
 
 Requires the Commission, if it has not promulgated a rule to improve the fire retardancy of upholstered furniture by June 1, 2005, to transmit a report to Congress explaining why such rule was not issued.
 
 Requires the Commission, if it has not issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding fire safe mattresses by June 1, 2005, to: (1) initiate a study to evaluate methodologies to improve fire resistance of such mattresses by June 30, 2005; (2) perform a comparative cost-benefit analysis of a mattress standard that would mandate 30-, 45-, and 60-minute flashover prevention; and (3) report its findings and recommendations to Congress.
 
Directs the Commission to create a registry of fire-retardant chemicals by June 1, 2005. Requires the registry to include: (1) a list of manufacturers producing fire-retardant chemicals for sale or use in or on Commission-regulated products sold or used in the United States; (2) a list of such chemicals for each manufacturer; (3) a ranking of sales of such chemicals by each manufacturer measured by volume of chemicals sold; and (4) a list of studies and reports on the human impact of such chemicals performed by those manufacturers.
 
Requires the Commission to submit an annual report to Congress on the results of the registry.
 
Authorizes appropriations.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-11-10
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 798.
action_date: 2004-11-10
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator McCain under authority of the order of the Senate of 10/11/04 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
action_date: 2004-11-10
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator McCain under authority of the order of the Senate of 10/11/04 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
action_date: 2004-09-22
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
action_date: 2004-07-14
text: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 108-964.
action_date: 2003-10-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR 10/31/2003 S13662)
action_date: 2003-10-30
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 10/31/2003 S13661-13662)
action_date: 2003-10-30
text: Introduced in Senate