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Safety Agency Bill Gets Fast-Track Treatment

But will Bush sign a bill that increases fines and oversight?

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 18, 2007

• California Warns Retailers On Lead • Mattel Settles Suits Over Dangerous Toys • Target To Pay $600,000 For Violating Lead Paint Ban • Tougher Safety Requirements For Children's Products Now In Effect • Toys 'R' Us Launches Unsafe Baby Products Awareness Program • New Safety Agency Chief Pledges Greater Openness • Obama Names New Consumer Product Safety Chair, Boosts Budget • Toymaker Fined $1.1 Million For Consumer Violations • Maryland Stores Stop Selling Toys With Lead Paint • Toymakers, Craftspeople Up In Arms Over New Safety Law • Thrift Stores Protest Ban on Lead Toys • Target Launches In-Store Recall System • Do's and Don'ts of Holiday Decorating • New Jersey Finds Recalled Toys in Four Stores • Mattel Agrees to Lower Lead Paint Levels in Toys • Consumers Cautioned About Dangerous Toys • Soon-To-Be-Banned Plastic Toys Flooding the Market • Safety Agency Warns of Safety Hazards in Cribs --- • More Consumer Safety News • Recall Notices

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed the Consumer Product Safety Commission Modernization Act of 2007, setting in place what appears to be a fast-tracked reform to the nation's ailing consumer product safety agency.

After two days of debating a long list of amendments, the committee passed the measure 51-0 this evening and the committee's chair, John Dingell (D-Mich.), said he is going to suggest to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that the bill be placed on the suspended calendar.

Bills on the suspended calendar do not have to go through many of the same rules as most bills – meaning the bill could be passed before the House leaves for the holiday recess, possibly later tonight.

The bill passed the committee with such ease because it is a diluted version of the much stronger Senate version of the bill. Many Republicans, including noted pro-business advocate Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), supported this weaker bill from the beginning.

The most notable difference is that the Senate bill allows the agency to fine companies up to $100 million versus the House bill which tops out at $10 million. Currently the agency can only fine companies $1.8 million.

There is also no whistleblower protection in the House bill and much less public disclosure of business information.

Despite the weaker version, some consumer advocates are pleased with the tone of the bill while industry lobbyists see it as excessive and invasive.

“It is clear to all of us that something has gone wrong with our current safety system,” Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety at the Consumer Federation of America, said at a hearing to discuss the bill in November.

“Your bill, H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act (CPSMA), correctly recognizes that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) – the agency responsible for protecting consumers from unsafe and dangerous products in the marketplace – is broken. H.R. 4040 attempts to remedy this critical problem by increasing the Agency’s resources and legal authorities necessary to keep unsafe products out of the marketplace.”

Not glad tidings

But Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said the bill was "not glad tidings for consumers." She said it is"inadequate to protect American families" and said the measure:

• Does not require public safety data on dangerous products to be made public - an amendment for a robust consumer information system offered by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) was rejected in committee today;

• Fails to increase civil penalties sufficiently for “knowing” violations of safety laws;

• Falls dramatically short of providing the budget and staff that the CPSC needs;

• Fails to sufficiently streamline the CPSC’s current, ineffective recall procedures;

• Does not enable the CPSC to block unsafe imported products at the border before they harm consumers;

• Does not mandate pre-market testing of children’s toys and other consumer products; and

• As Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.) pointed out, creates a new, unprecedented criminal immunity for corporations that merely comply with the law by reporting hazardous substances in products.

In a press release, the National Association of Manufacturers said it “reject(s) provisions that would generate increased litigation rather than increased safety.”

Most notably, NAM opposes a provision which allows state attorneys general to sue manufacturers that produce dangerous products.

Keep it clean

During the markup debates, Dingell urged his colleagues not to vote for product-specific amendments because he wanted to keep the bill “clean,” improving its chances of passing. As a result strengthening amendments that would have given the agency authority over fixed thrill rides, pet toys and many others, were withdrawn.

The version of the bill that survived the markup includes these major CPSC upgrades:

• More than doubling the agency's funds to $80,000 in 2009, $90 million for 2010 and $100 million for 2011 along with $20 million to update the agency's laboratory.

• Lower lead standards in children's products, from 600 ppm to 100 ppm.

• Mandatory third-party testing for many children's products.

• Tracking labels for children's products to facilitate finding the overseas manufacturer and recalling the product.

The next step is for both the House and the Senate versions of these bills to pass their respective floors. The Senate version has been placed on the calendar but there is no time or date yet for a vote.

If bills pass both floors, they will go into conference where both sides will work out a compromised bill to send to President Bush for his signature or veto.

Political observers say it's quite possible Bush will veto any bill that includes heightened penalties against manufacturers or increases the authority of states to sue product manufacturers.

Some have suggested the White House will insist that companies be given immunity from lawsuits if they voluntarily initiate a recall.

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