Description:
S. 1341 would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to adopt the California flammability standard (Technical Bulletin 117-2013) as the federal flammability standard for upholstered furniture. On the basis of information from the CPSC, CBO expects that the commission would require, on average, one full-time employee annually over the 2020-2024 period to complete and enforce the final rule. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1341 would cost about $1 million over the 2020-2024 period, assuming availability of appropriated funds. S. 1341 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by preempting state laws and regulations that protect against the risk of fire or the spread of fire in upholstered furniture. Although that preemption would limit the application of state laws and regulations, CBO estimates that S. 1341 would impose no duty on state governments that would result in additional spending or a loss of revenues. Consequently, the cost of the mandate would not exceed the threshold established in UMRA for intergovernmental mandates ($82 million in 2019, adjusted annually for inflation). S. 1341 also would impose a private-sector mandate as defined in UMRA by requiring manufacturers of upholstered furniture to comply with the California standard for flammability. Based on previous research by the CPSC into the cost of meeting furniture flammability standards and the fact that many affected products already meet the California standard, CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate would not exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($164 million in 2019, adjusted annually for inflation). On September 20, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2647, the Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on July 17, 2019. H.R. 2647 is identical to S. 1341, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
