BILL NUMBER: AB 2218AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams ( Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen, Butler, and Campos ) FEBRUARY 24, 2012 An act to add Chapter 4.9 (commencing with Section 24540) to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to consumer safety. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2218, as amended, Williams. Consumer safety: table saws. Existing law prohibits the sale of various types of products that are determined to be unsafe for the public, including, among others, specified bunk beds, infant cribs, and toys. Existing state regulations require certain types of table saws to be guarded by a hood and to contain various safety features to prevent injury. This bill would prohibit a seller, on or after January 1,20152016 , from selling a new table saw in this state unless that table saw is equipped withactiveinjury mitigation technology, as defined. 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. Chapter 4.9 (commencing with Section 24540) is added to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read: CHAPTER 4.9. TABLE SAW SAFETY ACT 24540. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Table Saw Safety Act. 24541. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply: (a)"Active injury"Injury mitigation technology" means technology to prevent or detect contact with, or dangerous proximity between, a hand or finger and the teeth of the blade above the table top of a table saw, and to prevent the blade fromcuttingcausing severe injury to the hand or fingerdeeper than one-eighth of an inch when the hand or finger approaches any portion of the blade above the table top at a speed of one foot per second from any direction and along any path. Notwithstanding the prior sentence, active injury mitigation technology may be temporarily deactivated by a person so that a saw can cut material which would otherwise be detected as a person. (b) "Seller" means any person who deals in or engages in the business of selling table saws or any other person who sells table saws in this state. (c) "Table saw" means a saw that is designed primarily for cutting wood with a generally planar, circular blade having teeth around its periphery and having a nominal diameter of 12 inches or less, where the table saw includes a table top for supporting a work piece, and where at least a portion of the blade extends above the table top to cut a work piece on the table top. Table saws vary in price, size, weight, motors, drive systems, stands, housings, and other features. Common names of various types of table saws include, but are not limited to, bench saws, bench top saws, contractor saws, hybrid saws, and cabinet saws. 24542. On or after January 1,20152016 , a seller shall not sell any new table saw in this state unless that table saw is equipped withactiveinjury mitigation technology.