CPSIA Hearing Tomorrow

[CeciLeibovitz]

There will be another CPSIA hearing tomorrow. Jolie Fay of the Handmade Toy Alliance will testify. More information here:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/news/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=8234

[MagnoliaSurprise]

Thanks for posting this link. I just watched and it was pretty interesting.

[reetmomma]

Thanks for posting. Very interesting details.

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

Here are the opening statements of Mary Bono Mack R.Ca, and Fred Upton R. Chairpersons of the committee. We may have hope!!

Press Release

Bono Mack, Upton Opening Statements on Unintended Consequences of 2008 Law on Jobs and Small Businesses
February 17, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), has convened a hearing to examine the unintended consequences of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 on American job creators including small businesses and thrift stores. It will review the impact of the recent legislation on Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC ) resources and its ability to protect consumers. CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum and Commissioner Anne Northrup are among today’s witnesses.

The opening statements for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Bono Mack and full Committee Chairman Upton are provided below:


Opening Statement of the Honorable Mary Bono Mack (remarks as prepared)
Chairman, House Subcommittee on Commerce, manufacturing, and Trade

This is the first hearing of our Subcommittee for the 112th Congress. Over the months ahead, I plan to look at a wide range of issues that deeply affect Americans in their daily lives. One of the most important – as well as one of the most vexing issues we face today – is how to get our economy back on track. How do we create new jobs? How do we bring jobs which have been lost to foreign countries back home? How do we make “Made in America” matter again? I believe it’s part of “our job” to take a close look at what’s working and what’s not working, and then see how we can “work” together to make a real difference in peoples’ lives.

Today’s hearing is about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act or “CPSIA.” This legislation was truly a landmark in efforts to improve consumer product safety. It was the first reauthorization of the CPSC in seventeen years, and it modernized and strengthened the agency in many different and meaningful ways.

While CPSIA has many virtues, there are some unintended consequences of the law, as well. We have a responsibility to the American public to review those specific provisions of the law that have proven to be problematic and to fix them. Admittedly, it’s a careful balancing act, and we have to be certain – as the old saying goes – not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

For thousands of businesses, who strive to be responsible, “let’s do what’s best for consumers” – CPSIA has consumed an inordinate amount of their time trying to understand how each new regulation and standard will affect them. Unfortunately, many have gone out of business, attributing their demise to some of the burdens of compliance with the many provisions of the new law. We need to strike a careful balance. As a nation, we simply cannot afford to lose jobs or stifle innovation because of unnecessary regulations.

Frankly, many businesses never even heard about this law until well after it was enacted. Most were shocked to learn of the onerous requirements it would impose on them if they manufactured or sold any “children’s product” – even though they had never done anything wrong and never had a single product recall.

It began with the best of intentions. In 2007, the widely publicized toy recalls for violations of the existing lead paint standard gave way to a new prohibition on lead content in children’s products. As interpreted by the Commission, this category goes far beyond just toys to cover sporting goods, library books, all-terrain vehicles, educational products, CDs, clothing and many other items.

The goal was a noble one: making products safer for our kids. But within just months of passage, both the Commission and the Congress realized that problems with the new law would need to be addressed. The Commission recently announced yet another stay of enforcement – at least five now by my count – that it deems necessary to avert potentially disastrous results. What’s more, during the last Congress, numerous bills and legislative drafts were introduced – including one by Mr. Barton – to remedy some of the problems we already know about. I hope that our new members can quickly get up to speed on these issues, and – working together – we can come up with a common sense solution that’s a win-win for everyone.

Today, the Commission has jurisdiction over literally thousands of different types of products. It’s critically important that they should be able to prioritize their resources to address the products that pose the greatest risk to consumers.

As a mother, I have very strong, passionate feelings about protecting all children. But as a former small business owner, I know all too well how unnecessary regulations – even well intentioned ones – can destroy lives, too. This is a rare opportunity to put aside the differences that often divide this great body and put our heads together to make a good law even better.

It’s up to us now. And, as we begin this important debate, I’m going to encourage everyone to remember what we all tell our own kids growing up: Keep your eye on the ball.

Mr. Butterfield, you are now up to bat.


Opening Statement of the Honorable Fred Upton (remarks as prepared)
Chairman, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Thank you, Chairman Bono Mack, for holding this, your first hearing as Chair of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). I think we all agree that there are significant problems with this law that need to be addressed urgently. I am also interested in hearing about the effect of this law on the resources of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The Energy & Commerce Committee worked on the CPSIA on a bipartisan basis under the leadership of then-Chairman Dingell and then-Ranking Member Barton. The bill passed the House on a nearly unanimous basis. The Senate did not proceed with the same bipartisan approach, but in conference we nevertheless went along with some of their provisions. Some of our conferees have expressed regret on that score. In any case, not long after the President signed CPSIA into law, serious problems emerged.

We all care deeply about our children and their safety – nearly every one of us on this dais has a child or grandchild. No one wants to put little children at risk. But this law may be doing exactly that. By dictating so much of the Commission’s work, in too many cases we have shifted its attention to products that pose little or no risk and away from more significant issues. At the same time, we have deprived the Commission of the flexibility to develop common-sense solutions to the problems of implementation. The retroactive effect of the law has caused the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries and thrift stores across the land to destroy used products, including even winter clothing that is sorely needed by millions of American children.

While we have seen little evidence of improvement in children’s safety, there has already been an extreme impact on the children’s product market – particularly for small- and micro-sized businesses. The Commission has pushed off the day of reckoning for some businesses by postponing, again and again, the expensive requirements for third-party independent laboratory testing of children’s products. But the Commission has already told us that it believes its hands are tied—it can do nothing more to exempt products from this costly testing, even when the risk, if any, is minute and the burden to small business is gargantuan. In fact, the Commission is now working on regulations that would require even more testing—regulations that will pile on even greater costs in this terrible recession.

In short, it is up to us to fix the problem. We have no time to waste. This summer, the lead limits are set to drop again, to even lower levels. Again the effect will be retroactive, so our retailers and thrift stores will once again be destroying inventories of products that are already the safest in the world. I want to make clear that we do not intend to undo everything we did in the CPSIA, but we have every intention of fixing the law so that it works and the Commission can get back to its job of protecting our children.

[HoldsIt]

Interesting!

[williebsupplies]

thanks for the update - sounds like that thorn in the lions paw has started to hurt a little