What's happening
This bill bans the sale of new residential upholstered furniture in New York containing intentionally-added chemical flame retardants.
Why it matters
Reduces potential health risks. Chemical flame retardants, especially those that are halogenated, have been linked to health concerns such as hormone disruption, neurological issues, and increased cancer risk. By banning their use in new residential furniture, the bill aims to limit everyday exposure in homes.
Shifts industry materials and practices. Furniture manufacturers and retailers will need to change sourcing and production methods to comply with the ban, potentially leading to innovation in safer, non-toxic fire safety materials.
Limits impact to new products only. The exemption for resale and consumer-distributed used furniture means the law targets manufacturers and retailers, not private individuals, which could minimize disruption for consumers while still reducing future chemical use.
Empowers environmental regulators. The bill authorizes the state environmental commissioner to create rules and regulations, ensuring flexibility in implementation and allowing for future updates as new chemical data emerges.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Chemical Flame Retardants
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to rules
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Ban Flame Retardants in Furniture
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Aileen Gunther
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6512
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 14, 2019
Introduced by Sens. HARCKHAM, RITCHIE, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the use of chemical flame retardants
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Article 37 of the environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new title 9 to read as follows:
TITLE 9
CHEMICAL FLAME RETARDANTS Section 37-0901. Definitions.
37-0903. Prohibition on the use of chemical flame retardants. § 37-0901. Definitions. As used in this title:
1. "Chemical flame retardants" shall mean any halogenated chemical flame retardant, including but not limited to TDCPP Tris (1, 3 Dicholoro-2-propyl) phosphate, and any Phosphorus-Bromine flame retardants.
2. "Residential upholstered furniture" shall mean a sofa, loveseat, chair, ottoman, footstool, or other item of furniture, intended for indoor use in a home that consists, in whole or in part, of leather, plastic, fabric or other material that contains cotton, wool, polyurethane or other natural or synthetic material that is placed in cushions or on the frame of the furniture. § 37-0903. Prohibition on the use of chemical flame retardants.
1. Beginning July first, two thousand twenty, no person, firm, partnership, association, limited liability company or corporation shall sell or offer for sale any residential upholstered furniture that contains chemical flame retardants intentionally-added in order to provide a specific characteristic, appearance or quality, to perform a specific function, or for any other purpose.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13385-01-9
S. 6512 2
2. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the sale or distribution of residential upholstered furniture resold or offered for resale, or distributed by consumers for consumer use.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the commissioner of environmental conservation is authorized to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act on or before such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the use of chemical flame retardants
Purpose
The purpose of this bill is to limit residential exposure to chemical flame retardants and to increase fire safety.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends Article 37 of the Environmental Conservation Law by adding a new Title 9, entitled Chemical Flame Retardants. This title defines "chemical flame retardants, " prohibits the use of chemical flame retardants, and increases fire safety by requiring manufacturers to certify, beginning December 1, 2021, that residential upholstered furniture offered for sale in New York meets the requirements of the "open flame flammability standard."
Read the full memo (855 words)
"Open flame flammability standard" is defined as a standard, developed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the department, in consultation with the office of fire prevention and control, requiring residential upholstered furniture to not lead to flashover for at least fifteen minutes of time. The standard must be reviewed no less than every two years and include an assessment of the standards used in other states.
The section also authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to approve exemptions to the prohibition on the use of chemical flame retardants upon a determination that the proposed chemical flame retardant does not pose a risk to human health or the environment.
Section 2 is the effective date.
Justification
The objective of this bill is to prohibit the use of chemical flame retardants on residential upholstered furniture because of their propen- sity to combust with rapidity, as well as their adverse health conse- quences. These retardants are ineffective in preventing the spread of fires and, more importantly, when combusted the chemicals that are released form harmful byproducts that have the potential to affect the health of firefighters, especially female firefighters. Recent studies have shown that approximately 94 percent of couches manufactured after 2005 contain chemical flame retardants. The amount of chemical flame retardants present in this type of upholstered furniture is capable of being measured in pounds.
Flame retardant chemicals were added to upholstered furniture in response to a 1975 California flammability standard study, which was conducted in response to concerns about the large number of cigarette fires. However, the increased sale of flame-retardant chemicals has not eradicated this issue because the chemicals are so ineffective. The Chicago Tribune quoted an author of one study as saying, "the fire just laughs at it."
The vast majority of furniture sold in the United States meets the Cali- fornia standard due to California's large market share. However, scien- tific studies have demonstrated that meeting the requirements of the California standard does not accurately reflect real-world fire behav- ior. A study conducted by the United States Department of Commerce National Bureau of Standards found that there were no significant differences in fire resistance between treated and untreated foams.
Not only are chemical flame retardants ineffective, they pose dangerous health risks when used daily as well as when ignited. During normal use, chemical flame retardants migrate out of furniture and into household dust. Toddlers typically show three times the level of flame retardants in their blood streams as their parents because of their tendency to put household items in their mouth. This exposure is on top of what babies are born with. Furthermore, some chemical retardants are suspected as carcinogenic. When combusted, chemical flame retardants can form harmful by-products that have potential adverse health risks to firefighters. A recent study in San Francisco found that firefighters had two to three times the rate of flame retardants in their bloodstream than the aver- age. 110 female firefighters in the study experienced a risk of breast cancer that was nearly six times higher than the general population.
Upholstered furniture can be highly volatile when ignited and has become a leading cause of firefighter and household deaths because of the rapid propensity to reach an inflamed, all-consumed stage, called flashover. Statistics demonstrate that when firefighters are able to arrive a a scene before the contents of a room have reached flashover, a fire is able to be contained. This bill prohibits the sale of residential uphol- stered furniture in New York that becomes fully engulfed and subject to flashover in less than fifteen minutes from the time it is exposed to a heat source and prohibits the use of certain chemical flame retardants that are added to the composition of the furniture. Furthermore, the chemical flame retardants as stipulated in the legislation, are recog- nized as posing a danger to both firefighters and citizens because of their toxic qualities when inhaled during a fire. For all of the forego- ing reasons it is imperative that this bill is enacted.
Legislative history
2017-2018: A.3368A/S.742A referred to Environmental Conservation 2015-2016: S.3844A/A.7837A passed Assembly
2013-2014: A.6557 passed Assembly
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law; provided however, that section 37-0905 shall take effect June 1, 2022, and the Department of Environmental Conservation may adopt regulations necessary to implement the act prior to the effective date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.