[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2724 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2724
To amend the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety
Standards Act of 1974 to require that weather radios be installed in
all manufactured homes manufactured or sold in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 6, 2008
Mr. Bayh (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, and Mr. Lugar) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety
Standards Act of 1974 to require that weather radios be installed in
all manufactured homes manufactured or sold in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``CJ's Home Protection Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that--
(1) nearly 20,000,000 Americans live in manufactured homes,
which often provide a more accessible and affordable way for
many families to buy their own homes;
(2) manufactured housing plays a vital role in providing
housing for low- and moderate-income families in the United
States;
(3) NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a nationwide network of
radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information
directly from a nearby National Weather Service (NWS) office,
and broadcasts NWS warnings, watches, forecasts, and other all-
hazard information 24 hours a day;
(4) the operators of manufactured housing communities
should be encouraged to provide a safe place of shelter for
community residents or a plan for the evacuation of community
residents to a safe place of shelter within a reasonable
distance of the community for use by community residents in
times of severe weather, including tornados and high winds, and
local municipalities should be encouraged to require approval
of these plans;
(5) the operators of manufactured housing communities
should be encouraged to provide a written reminder semiannually
to all owners of manufactured homes in the manufactured housing
community to replace the batteries in their weather radios; and
(6) weather radio manufacturers should include, in the
packaging of weather radios, a written reminder to replace the
batteries twice each year and written instructions on how to do
so.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS.
Section 605 of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and
Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5404) is amended by adding at
the end the following new subsection:
``(d) Weather Radios.--
``(1) Provision of installation instructions.--A
manufacturer shall provide with each manufactured home (other
than a manufactured home affixed to a permanent foundation),
instructions for the installation of a weather radio required
under this section.
``(2) Model installation standards.--The Federal
manufactured home installation standards established by the
Secretary under this section shall require that each
manufactured home (other than a manufactured home affixed to a
permanent foundation) shall be installed with a weather radio
inside the manufactured home that--
``(A) is capable of broadcasting emergency
information relating to local weather conditions;
``(B) is equipped with a tone alarm;
``(C) is equipped with Specific Alert Message
Encoding, or SAME technology; and
``(D) complies with Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA) Standard 2009-A (or current revision
thereof) Performance Specification for Public Alert
Receivers.
``(3) Responsibility of manufactured home installers.--It
shall be the duty of manufactured home installers to ensure
that manufactured homes (other than manufactured homes affixed
to a permanent foundation) are supplied and installed with a
weather radio required under this subsection.
``(4) Definition of affixed to a permanent foundation.--For
purposes of this subsection, the term `affixed to a permanent
foundation' has the meaning given that term in the Department
of Housing and Urban Development's publication entitled
`Permanent Foundations Guide For Manufactured Housing' dated
September 1996.
``(5) Liability protections.--
``(A) Immunity for manufacturers.--Manufacturers of
manufactured homes shall be immune from common law
civil liability for any aspect of the installation,
furnishing, function, operation, performance,
capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio
mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation
standards promulgated in accordance with this
subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
``(B) Immunity for installers.--Manufactured home
installers shall be immune from common law civil
liability for any aspect of the installation,
furnishing, function, operation, performance,
capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio
mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation
standards promulgated in accordance with this
subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
``(C) Immunity for retailers.--Retailers of
manufactured homes shall be immune from common law
civil liability for any aspect of the installation,
furnishing, function, operation, performance,
capabilities, or utilization of the weather radio
mandated by the Federal manufactured home installation
standards promulgated in accordance with this
subsection, including any instructions related thereto.
``(D) Immunity for operators of housing
communities.--Any reminder, assistance, or instructions
provided by the operator of a manufactured housing
community concerning the function of a weather radio
contained in a manufactured home shall not subject the
operator, an owner or employee of the manufactured home
community, or the manufacturer of the manufactured home
to liability for the functionality of that weather
radio.
``(6) Exemption for modular homes.--
``(A) In general.--The installation standards
required to be established under paragraph (2) shall
not apply to modular homes.
``(B) Definition of modular home.--For purposes of
this paragraph, the term `modular home' has the meaning
given such term in the law of the State in which the
modular home is located.''.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT.
Not later than the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the
date of the enactment of this Act, the consensus committee established
pursuant to section 604(a)(3) of the National Manufactured Housing
Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(a)(3))
shall develop and submit to the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development a proposed Federal manufactured home installation standards
required under section 605(d) of such Act (as added by the amendment
made by section 3 of this Act). Notwithstanding section 604(a)(5)(B) of
such Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall issue a
final order promulgating the standard required by such section 605(i)
not later than the expiration of the 90-day period beginning upon
receipt by the Secretary of the proposed standard developed and
submitted by the consensus committee.
SEC. 5. STUDY.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall conduct a
study regarding conditioning the applicability of the requirement under
the amendment made by section 3 of this Act (relating to the
installation of weather radios in manufactured homes) on the geographic
location at which a manufactured home is placed, but only to the extent
that such requirement applies to new manufactured homes and new site-
built homes. In conducting such study and making determinations under
to the study, the Secretary shall take into consideration severe
weather conditions, such as high winds and flooding, and wind zones and
other severe weather data available from the National Weather Service.
Not later than the expiration of the 18-month period beginning on the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete the
study and submit a report regarding the results of the study to the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and to
the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.
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