Senate Bill No. 455
(By Senators Foster and Chafin)
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[Introduced March 4, 2009; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated
§47-25-1, §47-25-2,
§47-25-3 and §47-25-4
, all relating to establishing the
Protect Children from Dangerous Lighters Act; short title;
legislative findings; definitions; and banning certain novelty
lighters in conformance with federal Consumer Product Safety
Commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated
§47-25-1, §47-25-2,
§47-25-3 and §47-25-4
, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 25. THE PROTECT CHILDREN FROM DANGEROUS LIGHTERS ACT.
§47-25-1. Short title.
The article may be cited as the "Protect Children from
Dangerous Lighters Act."
§47-25-2. Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds and declares that: (1) Lighters are
inherently dangerous products containing flammable fuel; (2) if
lighters are used incorrectly or used by children, dangerous and
damaging consequences may result; (3) novelty lighters are easily
mistaken by children and adults as children's toys or as common
household items; and (4) novelty lighters have been the cause of
many personal injuries to children and adults and property damage
throughout the state.
§47-25-3. Definitions.
"Novelty lighter" means a device typically used for the
igniting or lighting of cigarettes, cigars or pipes that has a
toy-like appearance, has entertaining audio or visual effects, or
resembles in any way in form or function an item that is commonly
recognized as appealing, attractive, or intended for use by
children of ten years of age or younger, including, but not limited
to, toy animals, cartoon characters, cars, boats, airplanes, common
household items, weapons, cell phones, batteries, food, beverages,
musical instruments and watches.
§47-25-4. Ban of novelty lighters.
(a) A novelty lighter is treated as a banned hazardous
substance as defined in section two of the Federal Hazardous
Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1261) and the prohibitions set out in
section four of this act (15 U.S.C. 1263) applies to novelty lighters.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section applies to a novelty
lighter: (1) Manufactured on or after January 1, 1980; and (2)
that is not considered by the Federal Consumer Product Safety
Commission to be an antique or an item with significant artistic
value.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
establish the "Protect
Children from Dangerous Lighters Act"; short title; legislative
findings; definitions; and banning certain novelty lighters in
conformance with Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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