This event took place on March 10, 2021.
The Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act drafted by the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) in 2017 has made its way into law in the form of the "COVID-19 Regulatory Relief and Work From Home Safety Act," part of the massive year-end omnibus spending bill signed by President Trump on December 27.
Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Michael Sullivan presented on minimizing risk and exposure during a webinar series hosted by the AHFA.
The COVID-19 Regulatory Relief and Work from Home Safety Act gives the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 180 days to adopt California's Technical Bulletin 117-2013 as a federal flammability standard for residential upholstered furniture.
TB 117-2013 outlines performance standards and methods for testing the smolder resistance of cover fabrics along with the barrier, filling and decking materials used in upholstered home furnishings. AHFA formally petitioned the CPSC to adopt the measure as a national standard in October 2015 and later introduced SOFFA when no action from the agency was forthcoming. The legislation advanced in the House in both 2017 and 2019 but remained stalled in the Senate.
SOFFA was within more than 3,000 pages of legislation Congress added to the $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill last month, including measures dealing with taxes, energy, education and health care.