Carbon Monoxide Detectors and Federal Law
- Current federal regulations include voluntary standards set by the Consumer Products Safety Commission for carbon monoxide detectors. Manufacturers and distributors are not required to meet the standards with the products they distribute to consumers. Federal legislation proposed in 2009 would make the Consumer Products Safety Commission standards required. The legislation included bills in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. In September 2009, the Senate bill was in the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The House bill, meanwhile, was in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
- The proposed federal laws are designed to reduce illness and fatalities related to carbon monoxide poisoning. The text of the House bill---H.R. 1796---says purchasing and installing carbon monoxide detectors helps to avoid fatalities. According to the bill, fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces, water heaters, portable generators and stoves can leak carbon monoxide. Each year, the bill says, these appliances cause more than 500 deaths and more than 20,000 emergency room visits.
- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, proposed the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act in 2009. "When someone dies from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, it's not just a private tragedy. It's a public tragedy, too. Because we know that, so often, it could have been prevented with better safeguards," Klobuchar told the Minneapolis Post on June 9, 2009.
- The 2009 Senate bill would provide grant money to states that pass laws requiring detectors in commercial residential dwellings. The proposed federal bill also would amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to require that all residential carbon monoxide detectors meet new federal standards. The Consumer Product Safety Commission would publish the American National Standard for Single and Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms as a mandatory standard. Under the proposed legislation, it would be a violation of federal law for a manufacturer or distributor to distribute detectors that do not meet the federal standard. The legislation would apply to imported carbon monoxide detectors as well as to those manufactured in the United States.
- On June 9, 2009, the Senate bill was read on the Senate floor. It was then referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. A House bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on March 29, 2009. Following the committee process, the bills will return to the floor for further consideration and possible congressional vote.
- The House and Senate bills encourage states to require the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in homes. The Consumer Products Safety Commission would administer a grant program that provides states with funding for state-based carbon monoxide alarm programs. Funding would be provided only to states that demonstrate to the CPSC that it has adopted a law or agency regulation requiring an approved carbon monoxide detector in all commercial residential dwellings and in all new dwellings. The regulation also must provide for penalties for those who violate the state laws. The proposed federal law would give priority to states that have the highest percentage of deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. Such states tend to be in colder parts of the United States, where furnaces are in operation more often.
- The proposed federal laws are designed to encourage regulations such as a Minnesota state law requiring carbon monoxide detectors in all homes in the state. In New York City, residential building owners are required to install at least one carbon monoxide detector in each dwelling unit. The New York law went into effect in November 2004. The detectors must be within 15 feet of the entrances to each sleeping room, and building owners are required to provide the city's Code Enforcement office with a certificate showing that a detector has been installed. The law also requires a public notice that carbon monoxide detectors are present. Building owners are also required to keep maintenance records for all carbon monoxide detectors. New York City's law allows for fines when building owners fail to comply with the regulation.
