BILL NUMBER: AB 127	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Rendon)

                        JANUARY 14, 2013

   An act relating to fire safety.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 127, as introduced, 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.
   This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to
enact subsequent legislation that would reduce the use of flame
retardants in plastic foam building insulation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) To improve energy efficiency and to reduce global climate
change, the use of plastic insulation materials, such as polystyrene,
polyisocyanurate, and polyurethane, is increasing in buildings and
especially in green buildings.
   (b) In the United States, ?ammability requirements for plastic
foam insulations and other building materials are incorporated into
building codes and ?re regulations for building materials. To meet
these requirements, plastic insulation materials have ?ame-retardant
chemicals added to them, usually as halogenated organic compounds
with chlorine or bromine bonded to carbon.
   (c) Studies have shown that these halogenated organic compounds
are associated with neurological and developmental toxicity and
endocrine disruption, and are possible carcinogens.
   (d) Flame retardants, whose primary use is in building insulation,
are found at increasing levels in household dust, human body ?uids,
and the environment.
   (e) Code provisions regulating plastic foam insulations in
buildings were ?rst introduced in the early 1960s. Those code
provisions do not specify that chemicals be added to foam plastic
insulation, but in practice organohalogen ?ame-retardant compounds
are added to meet test requirements.
   (f) Despite these requirements, in the 1970s, serious ?res
occurred from exposed foam plastic insulation. To address this issue,
the 1976 Uniform Building Code required plastic foam insulation to
be protected by a thermal barrier, usually as or in the form of
0.5-inch-thick gypsum wallboard.
   (g) Although the thermal barrier regulations have been deemed to
be sufficient for fire safety, chemical flame retardants are still
also required.
   (h) Given the additional cost of adding ?ame-retardant chemicals
to plastic foam building insulation, their potential adverse health
and ecological impacts, and the sufficiency of the thermal barrier,
it is important to question whether their use is a necessary
requirement for improved fire safety.
   (i) Therefore, it is in the best interest of the State of
California to eliminate unnecessary chemicals from building
insulation, while preserving building fire safety and encouraging
healthy building practices.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
that would reduce the use of ?ame retardants in plastic foam building
insulation while simultaneously ensuring that both ?re safety and
long-term human and ecological health are properly accounted for
without a reduction in overall building ?re safety.