BILL NUMBER: SB 147INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Leno FEBRUARY 1, 2011 An act to add Section 19161.7 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to furniture. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 147, as introduced, Leno. Furniture: flammability standards. Existing law, the Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation Act, requires all mattresses and box springs manufactured for sale in this state to be fire retardant, as defined to meet the federal standards for resistance to open-flame test, and authorizes the Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation to adopt regulations to implement those standards. The act requires other bedding products to comply with regulations adopted by the bureau specifying that those products be resistant to open-flame ignition, requires all seating furniture to be fire retardant and labeled as specified, and, except as specified, requires all flexible polyurethane foam offered for retail sale to be fire retardant. The bureau has adopted, by regulation, a flame retardance test of the filling materials of residential upholstered furniture. This bill would require the bureau, on or before March 1, 2013, to modify that flame retardance test regarding residential upholstered furniture to include an alternative flammability standard that can be met without the use of fire retardants and does not compromise public 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. Section 19161.7 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read: 19161.7. The bureau, on or before March 1, 2013, shall modify Technical Bulletin 117 regarding product standards for fire retardant furniture to include an alternative flammability standard that can be met without the use of chemical fire retardants and does not compromise fire safety. In developing the alternative standard, the bureau shall consider a smoulder standard for upholstery such as the draft standard proposed by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. Part 1634, as published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2008).