HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 1102

                       As Passed House

                       March 11, 1991

Title:  An act relating to the sale of electrical equipment.

Brief Description:  Requiring certification of electric spa equipment.

Sponsor(s):  Representatives Kremen, Heavey and Braddock.

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Commerce & Labor, February 15, 1991, DP;

Passed House, March 11, 1991, 94-0.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

COMMERCE & LABOR

Majority Report: Do pass.  Signed by 11 members:  Representatives Heavey, Chair; Cole, Vice Chair; Fuhrman, Ranking Minority Member; Lisk, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Franklin; Jones; R. King; O'Brien; Prentice; Vance; and Wilson.

Staff:  Chris Cordes  (786-7117).

Background:  Since 1986, each piece of electrical equipment associated with spas, hot tubs, swimming pools, and hydromassage bathtubs has been required to bear a certification mark from an approved electrical products testing laboratory.

Summary of Bill:  Hydromassage bathtubs may not be offered for sale or exchange unless the complete unit, the tub and the electrical equipment, is certified by an approved electrical products testing laboratory.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  If a complete hydromassage tub and its parts are not certified as one unit, the Department of Labor and Industries may be approving unsafe installations.  This occurs because each separate piece is certified, but the pieces may not be safe when installed together.

Testimony Against:  None.

Witnesses:  Representative Pete Kremen, prime sponsor; and Ralph Rodenberg, Hydro Swirl.