Bill Text: CA AB1059 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Product safety: consumer products: textile fiberglass and covered flame retardant chemicals.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 461, Statutes of 2023. [AB1059 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1059-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 1059
CHAPTER 461
An act to amend Sections 19101 and 19103 of, and to add Section 19101.5 to, the Business and Professions Code, relating to product safety.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 08, 2023.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 08, 2023.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1059, Friedman.
Product safety: consumer products: textile fiberglass and covered flame retardant chemicals.
Existing law, the Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation Act, establishes the Bureau of Household Goods and Services to license and regulate persons engaged in businesses relating to upholstered furniture, bedding and filling materials, and insulation, including juvenile products and mattresses. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor.
Existing law prohibits a person from selling or distributing in commerce in this state any new, not previously owned juvenile products, mattresses, or upholstered furniture that contains covered flame retardant chemicals at specified levels, and prohibits a custom upholsterer from repairing, reupholstering, recovering, restoring, or renewing upholstered or reupholstered furniture using replacement components that contain covered flame retardant chemicals at specified levels. Existing law exempts from those
requirements, among other things, components of adult mattresses other than foam.
This bill would make that exemption inoperative on January 1, 2027. The bill would exempt from the above-described requirements aramid fiber when used in fabric in the interior of a mattress or on a nonsleep surface of a mattress, as specified. The bill would additionally exempt modacrylic fiber without antimony trioxide or other covered flame retardant chemicals. The bill would require the International Sleep Products Association, on or before October 1, 2025, to submit to the bureau a quantitative health risk assessment of modacrylic fiber without antimony trioxide, as specified, and would require the bureau to post the assessment on its internet website.
Existing law, known as the Green Chemistry program, requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or
chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being chemicals of concern. Existing law provides that the Green Chemistry program does not authorize the department to supersede the regulatory authority of any other department or agency or duplicate or adopt conflicting regulations for product categories already regulated or subject to pending regulation, as provided. Existing law, the Safer Consumer Products Program, implements the Green Chemistry program pursuant to regulations adopted by the department.
This bill would authorize the department to prioritize or take action on a product containing a covered flame retardant chemical and would provide that if the department adopts regulations governing the use of a flame retardant chemical in a juvenile product, mattress, or upholstered furniture that those regulations adopted by the department shall prevail.
Existing law authorizes the bureau to assess a
fine if a person continues to sell or distribute products in commerce in this state belonging to the same stock keeping unit as noncompliant products, as specified. Existing law requires the bureau to take specified other actions in that regard, including posting citations issued on the bureau’s internet website and receiving complaints from consumers concerning juvenile products, upholstered furniture, or reupholstered furniture regulated under the act.
This bill would, on and after January 1, 2027, prohibit a person from manufacturing, selling, offering, or distributing in commerce in the state any new, not previously owned juvenile product, mattress, or upholstered furniture that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2027, prohibit a custom upholsterer from repairing, reupholstering, recovering, restoring, or renewing any mattress, juvenile product, upholstered furniture, or
reupholstered furniture using a replacement component that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass. The bill would authorize the bureau to assess a fine against a person who continues to sell or distribute noncompliant products and to take specified other actions in that regard, including posting citations issued on the bureau’s internet website and receiving complaints from consumers.
Because the bill would expand the scope of a crime under the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 19101 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:19101.
(a) On or after January 1, 2020, a person, including a manufacturer, shall not sell or distribute in commerce in this state any new, not previously owned juvenile products, mattresses, or upholstered furniture that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, covered flame retardant chemicals at levels above 1,000 parts per million.(b) On or after January 1, 2020, a custom upholsterer shall not repair, reupholster, recover, restore, or renew upholstered furniture or reupholstered furniture using replacement components that contain covered flame retardant chemicals at levels above 1,000 parts per million.
(c) The prohibitions in subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to the following:
(1) Electronic components of juvenile products, mattresses, reupholstered furniture, upholstered furniture, or any associated casing for those electronic components.
(2) Upholstered or reupholstered furniture components other than those identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 19094.
(3) Thread or fiber when used for stitching mattress components together.
(4) Aramid fiber when used in fabric in the interior of a mattress or in fabric that covers the bottom (nonsleep surface) of a mattress that has a sleeping surface on only one side of the mattress.
(5) Modacrylic fiber without antimony trioxide or other covered flame retardant chemicals.
(6) Until January 1, 2027, components of adult mattresses other than foam. As used in this paragraph, “adult mattresses” means mattresses other than toddler mattresses, crib mattresses, and other infant sleep products.
(d) (1) On or before October 1, 2025, the International Sleep Products Association shall submit to the bureau a quantitative health risk assessment of modacrylic fiber without antimony trioxide that was performed by an independent toxicologist who is board-certified by the American Board of Toxicology.
(2) The bureau shall post the assessment conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) on its internet website.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 25257.1 of the Health and Safety
Code, this section shall not be construed to prohibit or restrict the authority of the Department of Toxic Substances Control to prioritize or take action on any products containing a covered flame retardant chemical in order to limit exposure to or reduce the level of hazard posed by these covered flame retardant chemicals.
(2) If the Department of Toxic Substances Control adopts a regulatory response described in the Safer Consumer Products Program (Chapter 55 (commencing with Section 69501) of Division 4.5 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations) governing the use of a flame retardant chemical in a product covered by this section, this section shall not apply to the use of that chemical upon the date that the department posts a notice on its internet website that it has adopted the regulatory response.
SEC. 2.
Section 19101.5 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:19101.5.
(a) On and after January 1, 2027, a person, including, but not limited to, a manufacturer, retailer, importer, or online seller, shall not manufacture, sell, offer, or distribute in commerce in this state any new, not previously owned juvenile product, mattress, or upholstered furniture that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass.(b) On and after January 1, 2027, a custom upholsterer shall not repair, reupholster, recover, restore, or renew any mattress, juvenile product, upholstered furniture, or reupholstered furniture using a replacement component that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, textile fiberglass.
(c) For
purposes of this section, “textile fiberglass” means textile yarns whose composition includes one or more continuous glass filaments in a form suitable for knitting, weaving, or otherwise intertwining to form a textile fabric, but excludes the following:
(1) Thread or fiber when used for stitching mattress components together.
(2) Yarns in which the glass filaments are corespun or sheathed by another fiber.
SEC. 3.
Section 19103 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:19103.
(a) The bureau shall enforce and ensure compliance with Sections 19101 and 19101.5.(b) (1) The bureau shall provide the Department of Toxic Substances Control with a selection of samples from products regulated under this article to test for compliance with Section 19101. The bureau shall select samples based on consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, taking into account a range of manufacturers and types of products regulated under this article. The bureau shall integrate these testing requirements into the existing testing program described in subdivision (c) of Section 19094.
(2) (A) If the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s
testing shows that any reupholstered furniture or new, not previously owned juvenile products, mattresses, or upholstered furniture is in violation of Section 19101, the bureau may assess fines for violations against manufacturers of the product for the violation. The bureau shall reimburse the Department of Toxic Substances Control for the cost of testing for the presence of covered flame retardant chemicals pursuant to this article.
(B) If a person continues to sell or distribute products in commerce in this state belonging to the same stock keeping unit (SKU) as products that do not comply with Sections 19101 and 19101.5, after notice of the violation is posted on the bureau’s internet website, the bureau may assess fines against the person for the continued sale or distribution of those products. The bureau shall make information about any citation issued pursuant to this section available to the public on its internet website, and shall
develop a process for keeping interested persons informed about updates to notices of violation posted on the bureau’s internet website.
(c) A fine for a violation of this section shall be assessed in accordance with the following schedule:
(1) The fine for the first violation shall be not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), but not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).
(2) The fine for the second violation shall be not less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), but not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(3) The fine for the third violation shall be not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000), but not more than seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).
(4) The fine for any subsequent violation shall be not less than seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500), but not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(d) In determining the amount of the fine for a violation of this section, the bureau shall consider the following factors:
(1) The nature and severity of the violation.
(2) The good or bad faith of the cited person.
(3) The history of previous violations.
(4) Evidence that the violation was willful.
(5) The extent to which the cited person or entity has cooperated with the bureau.
(e) (1) The bureau shall adjust all minimum and maximum fines imposed by this section for inflation every five years.
(2) The adjustment shall be equivalent to the percentage, if any, that the Consumer Price Index at the time of adjustment exceeds the Consumer Price Index at the time this section goes into effect. Any increase determined under this paragraph shall be rounded as follows:
(A) In multiples of ten dollars ($10) in the case of penalties less than or equal to one hundred dollars ($100).
(B) In multiples of one hundred dollars ($100) in the case of penalties greater than one hundred dollars ($100), but less than or equal to one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(C) In multiples of one thousand dollars ($1,000) in
the case of penalties greater than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(f) The bureau shall receive complaints from consumers concerning products regulated by this article sold in this state.
