BILL NUMBER: AB 127	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
	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, 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, 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.


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.
  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, shall 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. 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:
   (a) Maintain overall building fire safety.
   (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.