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Advisory council briefed on bills affecting licensing, labeling and advisory meeting rules; workshops planned for February
Summary
Legislative staff briefed the advisory council on bills that affect bureau licensing, meeting rules and flame‑retardant testing, and scheduled rulemaking workshops to implement changes.
Legislative affairs staff briefed the advisory council on state and federal legislation and how it will affect bureau operations, regulatory drafting and public participation.
Key bills and impacts. Yofana Lamar, the legislative analyst, summarized several measures: AB 2138 (changes to how criminal history can be used in licensing decisions, including a seven‑year limitation and a requirement that programs report data and publish it on the department website), AB 2198 (budget/fiscal reporting for special funds), AB 2958 (amended teleconference/meeting rules that create an alternative notice/remote participation option with specific 24‑hour notice and primary‑location requirements), and AB 2998 (a prohibition on certain flame retardant chemicals above a parts‑per‑million threshold and a requirement for the International Sleep Products Association to survey mattress producers and report nonrespondents). Lamar said some programs in the department were excluded from the "ban the box" elements of AB 2138 because they routinely fingerprin t applicants; the bureau retained application questions about criminal history for the time being.
Regulatory and meeting process implications. Staff noted AB 2958’s alternative teleconference approach requires a 24‑hour public notice of remote participation and a designated primary physical location with a quorum present; remote participants whose plans change and who fail to meet the notice requirement may not be allowed to participate. Lamar said the department will provide a regulatory timeline (draft regs by February for AB 2138 implementation where applicable) and that bureau staff will work on any necessary regulatory changes related to the bureau’s name change and other statutory amendments.
Flame retardant law and mattress industry survey. The council discussed AB 2998 (state restriction on flame retardants), which authorizes the bureau to publish lists of products that cannot be sold when they exceed thresholds and extends SB 1019 chemistry testing to juvenile products and other categories. The bill requires ISPA (International Sleep Products Association) to survey mattress producers starting January 31, 2020 and report nonrespondents; council members asked how the ISPA survey will capture non‑members and how the bureau will use survey results to identify products for testing and potential enforcement.
Why this matters: statutory changes affect application forms, the bureau’s regulatory timelines and disclosure requirements for manufacturers. Several bills include implementation timelines and reporting requirements that the bureau must incorporate into rulemaking and outreach.
Next steps: staff will publish workshop notices, draft regulatory materials and consult legal staff on the teleconference option’s effect on advisory meetings; the bureau will monitor federal proposals (a federal bill to align mattress standards was noted) and continue interagency coordination.
