Work From Home Safety Act Passes Congress, Establishes National Flammability Standard

.The Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act (SOFFA) passed the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of 2019 and made it into the 2020 year-end omnibus bill approved by Congress last night. It was renamed as the “COVID-19 Regulatory Relief and Work From Home Safety Act” and instructs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish conformance to California TB-117-2013 (a smolder test) as a national standard in the United States.

BIFMA joined a broad coalition led by the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) in support of this legislation. For many years, members of BIFMA have worked to repeal California TB133 (open flame) and promote California TB117-2013. We have achieved three major successes with: modifications in 2013 to TB117, with the TB133 repeal in January 2019, and now with TB117-2013 to become a national standard. BIFMA was pleased to work with many other organizations to promote a national smolder test standard for upholstered furniture.

Contact Dave Panning, Director of Technical Services at BIFMA (dpanning@bifma.org) with any questions. A copy of the language in the bill is below.

TITLE XXI—COVID–19 REGU-

  1. LATORY RELIEF AND WORK

  2. FROM HOME SAFETY ACT

  3. SEC. 2101. COVID–19 REGULATORY RELIEF AND WORK

  4. FROM HOME SAFETY ACT.

  5. (a) SHORT TITLE.—This title may be cited as the

  6. ‘‘COVID–19 Regulatory Relief and Work From Home

  7. Safety Act’’.

  8. (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act—

  9. (1) the term ‘‘bedding product’’ means—

  10. (A) an item that is used for sleeping or

  11. sleep-related purposes; or

  12. (B) any component or accessory with re-

  13. spect to an item described in subparagraph (A),

  14. without regard to whether the component or ac-

  15. cessory, as applicable, is used—

  16. (i) alone; or

  17. (ii) along with, or contained within,

  18. that item;

  19. (2) the term ‘‘California standard’’ means the

  20. standard set forth by the Bureau of Electronic and

  21. Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal

  22. Insulation of the Department of Consumer Affairs of

  23. the State of California in Technical Bulletin 117–

  24. 2013, entitled ‘‘Requirements, Test Procedure and

  1. Apparatus for Testing the Smolder Resistance of

  2. Materials Used in Upholstered Furniture’’, originally

  3. published June 2013, as in effect on the date of en-

  4. actment of this Act;

  5. (3) the terms ‘‘foundation’’ and ‘‘mattress’’

  6. have the meanings given those terms in section

  7. 1633.2 of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, as

  8. in effect on the date of enactment of this Act; and

  9. (4) the term ‘‘upholstered furniture’’—

  10. (A) means an article of seating furniture

  11. that—

  12. (i) is intended for indoor use;

  13. (ii) is movable or stationary;

  14. (iii) is constructed with an uphol-

  15. stered seat, back, or arm;

  16. (iv) is—

  17. (I) made or sold with a cushion

  18. or pillow, without regard to whether

  19. that cushion or pillow, as applicable,

  20. is attached or detached with respect

  21. to the article of furniture; or

  22. (II) stuffed or filled, or able to be

  23. stuffed or filled, in whole or in part,

  24. with any material, including a sub-

  25. stance or material that is hidden or

  1. concealed by fabric or another cov-

  2. ering, including a cushion or pillow

  3. belonging to, or forming a part of, the

  4. article of furniture; and

  5. (v) together with the structural units

  6. of the article of furniture, any filling mate-

  7. rial, and the container and covering with

  8. respect to those structural units and that

  9. filling material, can be used as a support

  10. for the body of an individual, or the limbs

  11. and feet of an individual, when the indi-

  12. vidual sits in an upright or reclining posi-

  13. tion;

  14. (B) includes an article of furniture that is

  15. intended for use by a child; and

  16. (C) does not include—

  17. (i) a mattress;

  18. (ii) a foundation;

  19. (iii) any bedding product; or

  20. (iv) furniture that is used exclusively

  21. for the purpose of physical fitness and ex-

  22. ercise.

  23. (c) ADOPTION OF STANDARD.—

  24. (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that

  25. is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,

  1. and except as provided in paragraph (2), the Cali-

  2. fornia standard shall be considered to be a flamma-

  3. bility standard promulgated by the Consumer Prod-

  4. uct Safety Commission under section 4 of the Flam-

  5. mable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1193).

  6. (2) TESTING AND CERTIFICATION.—A fabric,

  7. related material, or product to which the California

  8. standard applies as a result of paragraph (1) shall

  9. not be subject to section 14(a) of the Consumer

  10. Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)) with re-

  11. spect to that standard.

  12. (3) CERTIFICATION LABEL.—Each manufac-

  13. turer of a product that is subject to the California

  14. standard as a result of paragraph (1) shall include

  15. the statement ‘‘Complies with U.S. CPSC require-

  16. ments for upholstered furniture flammability’’ on a

  17. permanent label located on the product, which shall

  18. be considered to be a certification that the product

  19. complies with that standard.

  20. (d) PREEMPTION.—

  21. (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 16

  22. of the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1203) and

  23. section 231 of the Consumer Product Safety Im-

  24. provement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 2051 note), and

  25. except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C) of

  1. paragraph (2), no State or any political subdivision

  2. of a State may establish or continue in effect any

  3. provision of a flammability law, regulation, code,

  4. standard, or requirement that is designed to protect

  5. against the risk of occurrence of fire, or to slow or

  6. prevent the spread of fire, with respect to uphol-

  7. stered furniture.

  8. (2) PRESERVATION OF CERTAIN STATE LAW.—

  9. Nothing in this Act or the Flammable Fabrics Act

  10. (15 U.S.C. 1191 et seq.) may be construed to pre-

  11. empt or otherwise affect—

  12. (A) any State or local law, regulation,

  13. code, standard, or requirement that—

  14. (i) concerns health risks associated

  15. with upholstered furniture; and

  16. (ii) is not designed to protect against

  17. the risk of occurrence of fire, or to slow or

  18. prevent the spread of fire, with respect to

  19. upholstered furniture;

  20. (B) sections 1374 through 1374.3 of title

  21. 4, California Code of Regulations (except for

  22. subsections (b) and (c) of section 1374 of that

  23. title), as in effect on the date of enactment of

  24. this Act; or

  25. (C) the California standard.