Bill Text: CA AB127 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Fire safety: fire retardants: building insulation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-05 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 579, Statutes of 2013. [AB127 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB127-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 127	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 24, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 29, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 22, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 21, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Rendon, Stone, and Williams)

                        JANUARY 14, 2013

   An act to add Section 13108.1 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to fire safety.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 127, as amended, Skinner. Fire safety: fire retardants:
building insulation.
   Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission to adopt regulations pertaining to urea
formaldehyde foam insulation materials that are reasonably necessary
to protect the public health and safety. Existing law provides that
these regulations may include prohibition of the manufacture, sale,
or installation of this insulation. Existing law also authorizes the
Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and
Thermal Insulation to establish by regulation insulation material
standards governing the quality of all insulation material sold or
installed in the state.
   The California Building Standards Law requires all state agencies
that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the
building standard to the California Building Standards Commission
for approval or adoption. Existing law requires the commission to
receive proposed building standards from state agencies for
consideration in an 18-month code adoption cycle. Existing law
requires the commission to adopt, approve, codify, update, and
publish green building standards applicable to a particular
occupancy, if no state agency has the authority or expertise to
propose green building standards for those occupancies.
   This bill would require the State Fire Marshal, in consultation
with the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings,
and Thermal Insulation  and the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, to, by July 1, 2015  ,  to review
the flammability standards for building insulation materials,
including whether the flammability standards for some insulation
materials can only be met with the addition   of chemical
flame retardants. The bill would require, if deemed appropriate by
the State Fire Marshal based on this review, the State Fire Marshal
to, by July 1, 2015,  propose for consideration by the
commission updated insulation flammability standards that accomplish
certain things, including maintaining overall building fire 
safety while giving full consideration to the long-term human and
ecological health impacts associated with chemical flame retardants
  safety  .
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares that
for some insulation materials, current insulation flammability
standards can only be met using chemical flame retardants and that
new standards proposed pursuant to this act may provide manufacturers
with flexibility in meeting the flammability standards, with or
without the addition of chemical flame retardants, and would be
consistent with maintaining overall building fire safety. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 2.   Section 13108.1
is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
   13108.1.  The State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Bureau
of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and Thermal
 Insulation and the Department of Toxic Substances Control,
  Insulation, shall review the flammability standards
for building ins   ulation materials, including whether the
flammability standards for some insulation materials can only be met
with the addition of chemical flame retardants. Based on this review,
and if the State Fire Marshal deems it appropriate, he or she 
shall, by July 1, 2015, propose for consideration by the California
Building Standards Commission,  to be adopted  at the sole
discretion of the commission, updated insulation flammability
standards that accomplish both of the following: 
   (1) 
    (a)  Maintain overall building fire  safety
while giving full consideration to the long-term human and ecological
health impacts associated with chemical flame retardants. 
 safety.  
   (2) 
    (b)  Ensure that there is adequate protection from fires
that travel between walls and into confined areas, including crawl
spaces and attics, for occupants of the building and any firefighters
who may be in the building during a fire.