AB 841: State Fire Marshal: personal protective equipment: battery fires. - California

07/01/25 - Amended Senate → 08/29/25 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Aug 29, 2025

MODERATE

The August 29, 2025 Senate amendment to AB 841 adds a sunset provision that repeals the entire section on January 1, 2031, making the State Fire Marshal's working group requirement temporary rather than permanent. It also expands the required working group membership to include a representative from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and adds Senator Rubio as a coauthor.

Scope change

The bill's scope is now time-limited. The entire section (working group requirement, membership, review topics, and report deadline) will be repealed on January 1, 2031, making this a temporary measure rather than a permanent addition to the Health and Safety Code.

TIMELINE

A new subdivision (f) was added stating that Section 13105.1 shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2031, and is repealed as of that date. The bill title was updated from 'add' to 'add and repeal' to reflect this sunset.

REQUIREMENT

The required working group membership was expanded to include 'a representative from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health' in addition to the previously listed members (State Board of Fire Services, academia, health and safety experts, and a labor organization representing the utility workforce).

SCOPE

Senator Rubio was added as a coauthor alongside Assembly Members Patel and Ramos.

TECHNICAL

Minor language cleanup in the findings: 'lithium-ion battery storage facility, batteries' was simplified to 'lithium-ion batteries,' and 'nearly eight days' was changed to 'eight days' regarding the Otay Mesa fire duration.

10/06/25 - Chaptered → AB841 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes between these two versions. The diff reflects a transition from the official chaptered document format (as filed with the Secretary of State) to a web page rendering on the California Legislature website. All legislative provisions, deadlines, and requirements are identical in both versions.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from an official chaptered document layout to a web page display, adding navigation elements (home, FAQ, sitemap, login), search fields, version history links, and other website UI components. The underlying legislative content is unchanged.

09/16/25 - Enrolled → 10/06/25 - Chaptered · 2 edits · Oct 6, 2025

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between the enrolled and chaptered versions of AB 841. The differences are limited to standard legislative formatting: the bill was assigned Chapter number 382, the Governor's approval date (October 6, 2025) was inserted, and page numbering was updated. The operative provisions regarding the State Fire Marshal working group on personal protective equipment for lithium-ion battery fires remain identical.

TECHNICAL

Bill was assigned Chapter number 382 and the Governor's approval date of October 6, 2025 was recorded in place of the blank receipt line.

Page numbering changed from page 94 references to page 93 references, and header labels changed from 'AB 841' to 'Ch. 382' throughout.

08/29/25 - Amended Senate → 09/16/25 - Enrolled · 3 edits · Sep 16, 2025

MINOR

This diff reflects the transition from the Amended Senate version to the Enrolled version of AB 841. The changes are entirely technical and formatting-related: the amendment history header was replaced with standard enrollment language (passage dates, clerk signatures), line numbers were removed, page numbering shifted, and the governor's approval block was added. No substantive policy changes were made between these two versions.

TECHNICAL

Header changed from amendment history (listing prior amendments and coauthors) to standard enrolled bill format showing passage dates (Assembly September 12, 2025; Senate September 11, 2025) and clerk/secretary signature lines.

The 'Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.' summary line was removed, which is standard when a bill moves to enrolled form.

A governor's approval block was added at the end of the document with blank date and signature lines.

04/21/25 - Amended Assembly → 07/01/25 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jul 1, 2025

MINOR

The Senate amendment to AB 841 made two factual corrections to the legislative findings and added a coauthor. The Orange County fire captain incident was clarified to describe the facility as one that stored and repaired lithium-ion batteries, and the Otay Mesa fire description was corrected to distinguish between the fire burning for nearly eight days versus crews being on scene for more than two weeks. The operative provisions of the bill (creating a working group under the State Fire Marshal) remain unchanged.

SCOPE

Added Assembly Member Ramos as a coauthor of the bill.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the description of the Orange County fire captain incident: changed 'a fire at a lithium-ion battery storage facility' to 'a fire at a facility storing and repairing lithium-ion battery storage facility, batteries' for greater factual accuracy.

Corrected the Otay Mesa fire finding from 'burned for nearly two weeks' to 'burned for nearly eight days and required crews on scene for more than two weeks,' distinguishing the active burn duration from total crew presence.

02/19/25 - Introduced → 03/24/25 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

AB 841 was substantially expanded from a simple legislative intent declaration about battery storage requirements for private businesses into a bill that also requires the State Fire Marshal to form a working group to study personal protective equipment for lithium-ion battery fires. The amendment adds detailed legislative findings on firefighter cancer risks and specific battery fire incidents, plus a new Health and Safety Code section mandating the working group's composition, scope of review, and a September 1, 2026 deadline for recommendations to the Legislature.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded significantly. Originally it only declared legislative intent to enact future legislation on battery storage requirements for private businesses. The amendment adds a concrete, enforceable requirement for the State Fire Marshal to create a working group and submit recommendations on firefighter PPE for lithium-ion battery fires, with specific membership, review topics, and deadlines.

SCOPE

Added an entirely new Section 13105.1 to the Health and Safety Code requiring the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with Cal/OSHA, to develop a working group to make recommendations on personal protective equipment for responding to lithium-ion battery fires.

Added a detailed legislative findings section documenting that cancer is the leading cause of death among US firefighters, citing NIOSH data showing a 14 percent higher cancer death risk, twofold increase in mesothelioma, and tenfold increase in bladder cancer among women in the fire service. Also cites specific incidents: an Orange County fire captain's renal failure (2021), a Port of Los Angeles lithium-ion battery truck overturn (2024), and the Otay Mesa battery energy storage facility fire that burned for nearly two weeks (2024).

REQUIREMENT

The working group must include members of the State Board of Fire Services, academia, and health and safety experts. It must review at minimum: latest PPE to limit exposure to lithium and heavy metals, technology to clean PPE after response, whether different PPE should be used for different fire types (large scale storage facilities, home-based storage, electric vehicles), and current decontamination practices at fire scenes.

TIMELINE

Recommendations must be delivered to the Legislature no later than September 1, 2026. The reporting requirement becomes inoperative on January 1, 2030 (sunset provision).

FISCAL

The fiscal committee answer in the digest changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now has a fiscal impact requiring fiscal committee review.

03/24/25 - Amended Assembly → 04/21/25 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Apr 21, 2025

MODERATE

AB 841 was refocused by removing all business-regulation language, including a separate legislative intent section about battery storage requirements for private businesses, and reclassifying the bill from 'relating to business' to a general act. A labor organization representing the utility workforce was added as a required working group member, broadening stakeholder representation. The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating new fiscal implications were identified.

SCOPE

Removed Section 1, which declared the Legislature's intent to enact legislation relating to battery storage requirements for private businesses. This eliminated the bill's stated connection to regulating private business conduct.

The bill title changed from 'An act relating to business' to simply 'An act,' removing the business classification and narrowing the apparent regulatory scope away from private businesses.

ELIGIBILITY

Added 'a labor organization representing the utility workforce' as a required member of the working group, expanding stakeholder representation beyond fire services, academia, and health/safety experts to include utility industry labor.

FISCAL

Fiscal committee review designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now carries fiscal implications requiring committee analysis.

State Fire Marshal: personal protective equipment: battery fires.

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