Amended in Assembly March 21, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 127


Introduced by Assembly Member Skinner

(begin deleteCoauthor: end deletebegin insertCoauthors: end insertAssemblybegin delete Memberend deletebegin insert Members Ammiano,end insert Rendonbegin insert, Stone, and Williamsend insert)

January 14, 2013


An actbegin insert to add Section 18934.6 to the Health and Safety Code,end insert 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.

begin delete

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.

end delete
begin insert

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.

end insert
begin insert

This bill would state that the Legislature finds and declares that it is in the best interest of the state to eliminate chemicals from building insulation, while preserving building fire safety and encouraging healthy building practices. The bill would require the commission to adopt, approve, codify, and publish, during its next code adoption cycle, 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.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: begin deleteno end deletebegin insertyesend insert. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) To improve energy efficiency and to reduce global climate
4change, the use of plastic insulation materials, such as polystyrene,
5polyisocyanurate, and polyurethane, is increasing in buildings and
6especially in green buildings.

7(b) In the United States, flammability requirements for plastic
8foam insulations and other building materials are incorporated into
9building codes and fire regulations for building materials. To meet
10these requirements, plastic insulation materials have
11flame-retardant chemicals added to them, usually as halogenated
12organic compounds with chlorine or bromine bonded to carbon.

13(c) Studies have shown that these halogenated organic
14compounds are associated with neurological and developmental
15toxicity and endocrine disruption, and are possible carcinogens.

16(d) Flame retardants, whose primary use is in building insulation,
17are found at increasing levels in household dust, humanbegin delete bodyend deletebegin insert bodilyend insert
18 fluids, and the environment.

P3    1(e) Code provisions regulating plastic foam insulations in
2buildings were first introduced in the early 1960s. Those code
3provisions do not specify that chemicals be added to foam plastic
4insulation, but in practice organohalogen flame-retardant
5compounds are added to meet test requirements.

6(f) Despite these requirements, in the 1970s, serious fires
7occurred from exposed foam plastic insulation. To address this
8issue, the 1976 Uniform Building Code required plastic foam
9insulation to be protected by a thermal barrier, usually asbegin insert,end insert or in the
10form ofbegin insert,end insert 0.5-inch-thick gypsum wallboard.

11(g) Althoughbegin insert, in most circumstances,end insert the thermal barrier
12regulations have been deemed to be sufficient for fire safety,
13chemical flame retardants are still also required.begin insert Virtually all
14foam-plastic insulation materials in the United States today,
15including extruded and expanded polystyrene, polyisocyanurate,
16and spray polyurethane foam, are treated with halogenated flame
17retardants.end insert

begin insert

18(h) Many flame retardants are known to pose serious health
19and environmental hazards and are actively being banned or
20eliminated from use in many parts of the world.

end insert
begin insert

21(i) Comprehensive investigations by fire-safety experts cast into
22doubt the contention that the addition of flame retardants, at the
23concentrations typically used in foam insulation, measurably
24improves fire safety.

end insert
begin insert

25(j) The presence of flame retardants does not prevent foam
26plastic from burning and upon combustion can significantly
27increase hazardous products like smoke, soot, carbon monoxide,
28and potentially carcinogenic dioxins.

end insert
begin insert

29(k) The Steiner Tunnel Test (ASTM E-84), the most common
30test procedure used to determine flammability, flame spread, and
31smoke developed, produces misleading results when applied to
32foam plastic insulation.

end insert
begin insert

33(l) Flame retardants add to the cost of foam insulation materials
34while not appreciably enhancing fire safety. Thermal barriers,
35such as drywall, provide far greater protection against fire and
36fire-spread than flame retardants.

end insert
begin insert

37(m) The International Code Council is considering adopting
38exemptions to flame spread and smoke developed requirements
39for foam plastics in the International Residential Code where
P4    1adequate thermal barriers, such as 0.5-inch-thick gypsum
2wallboard or one-inch thick masonry or concrete, are present.

end insert
begin delete

3(h) Given the additional cost of adding flame-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.

end delete
begin delete
12

SEC. 2.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would reduce the use of flame retardants in plastic foam building insulation while simultaneously ensuring that both fire safety and long-term human and ecological health are properly accounted for without a reduction in overall building fire safety.

end delete
17begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 18934.6 is added to the end insertbegin insertHealth and Safety
18Code
end insert
begin insert, to read:end insert

begin insert
19

begin insert18934.6.end insert  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is in
20the best interest of the state to eliminate chemicals from building
21insulation, while preserving building fire safety and encouraging
22healthy building practices.

23(b) The commission shall adopt, approve, codify, and publish,
24during its next code adoption cycle, standards that accomplish
25both of the following:

26(1) Maintain overall building fire safety while giving full
27consideration to the long-term human and ecological health
28impacts associated with chemical flame retardants.

29(2) Ensure that there is adequate protection from fires that
30travel between walls and into confined areas, including crawl
31spaces and attics, for occupants of the building and any firefighters
32who may be in the building during a fire.

end insert


O

    98