A Senate Commerce subcommittee held what was billed as an oversight hearing on the CPSC and toy safety in conjunction with the holiday gift-giving season. It was pretty mundane affair, with just a little useful discussion of Rep. Henry Waxman’s proposal for a “functional exclusion” for products from the inflexible mandates of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The proposal is a diversion from fixing the CPSIA’s many substantive flaws.

Surprisingly, the issue of the just-finalized rules for the product safety complaint database (see below) was just mentioned and not discussed.

Commissioner Anne Northup, however, provided a good review of the provision’s harmful approach in her prepared testimony. (We’ve split the paragraph up for readability):

A prime example of wasted taxpayer resources—$29 million worth in fact—will be the consumer database that the Commission is tasked with implementing early next year. The CPSIA requires that the Commission establish and maintain a database on the safety of consumer products that is publicly available and searchable on the Commission’s website.

Unfortunately, the majority of the Commission adopted a rule just last week that will make the database useless or worse. Among other problems, the rule defines consumers to include just about everyone, so that reports of harm can be submitted by people with ulterior motives rather than just the actual consumers who suffered harm and have firsthand information about the consumer product. (continue reading…)

Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has released the witness list for its hearing Thursday, “Oversight of the Consumer Product Safety Commission:  Product Safety in the Holiday Season.” It’s a reasonably balanced list, starting with the inclusion of Commissioner Northup, who with Chairman Tenenbaum could provide a good pro-and-con discussion of the just-adopted rules for the (anti-business, anti-consumer) consumer product safety database.

We’re pleased that Steve Lamar of the American Apparel and Footwear Association will be available to provide the manufacturers’ perspective.

Witness Panel 1

* The Honorable Inez Tenenbaum, Chairman
Consumer Product Safety Commission
* The Honorable Anne Northup, Commissioner
Consumer Product Safety Commission

Witness Panel 2

* Ms. Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety and Senior Counsel
Consumer Federation of America
* Mr. Steve Lamar, Executive Vice President
American Apparel and Footwear Association
* Ms. Jill Chuckas, Board of Directors, Handmade Toy Alliance
Owner, Crafty Baby, LLC
* Dr. H. Garry Gardner FAAP
Chair, Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention
American Academy of Pediatrics (continue reading…)

From the House Committee on Commerce and Energy:

“Consumer Product Safety Enhancement Act”
Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on H.R. ____, the “Consumer Product Safety Enhancement Act”
Publications
Tuesday, 27 April 2010 16:24
The Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing entitled H.R. ____, the “Consumer Product Safety Enhancement Act” on Thursday, April 29, 2010.

INVITED WITNESSES:
•Rosario Palmieri, Vice President for Infrastructure, Legal, and Regulatory Policy, National Association of   Manufacturers
•Paul Vitrano, General Counsel, Motorcycle Industry Council
•Jim Gibbons, President and Chief Executive Officer, Goodwill Industries International
•Dan Marshall, Handmade Toy Alliance
•Steve Levy, American Apparel and Footwear Association
•Rick Woldenberg, Chairman, Learning Resources, Inc.
WHEN: 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 29

WHERE: 2322 Rayburn House Office Building

The Committee’s memo for the hearing is here.

See also the news release from the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety, “Chairman Rick Woldenberg to Testify before Congress on Amendments to CPSIA.”

We note with interest the absence of any “consumer groups” as witnesses.

From a news release from the Handmade Toy Alliance, joining the many trade associations calling for a Senate Committee hearing on the jobs-killing Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

This is just another reminder to our members of Congress that the issues plaguing small businesses and the hand crafted community from the CPSIA have not gone away,” Jill Chuckas, Secretary of the HTA and owner of Crafty Baby (CT) stated. “A hearing that fully discusses these issues needs to be held very soon.”

Dan Marshall, HTA Vice-President and co-owner of Peapods Natural Toys (MN), went on to state “At this point, there is not enough time for the CPSC to issue enough rulings to help small batch manufacturers address their compliance issues prior to the lifting of the stay on February 10, 2010. Congress needs to begin an active hearing process that engages manufacturers large and small in a meaningful way and finally correct this law.”

Forty-one business groups sent a letter to Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) earlier this week calling for a Senate hearing on the CPSIA, a public discussion that includes representatives from people who have been harmed by the law’s excesses. Small businesses, including home-based operations and craftspeople, have been especially vocal about the CPSIA because it imposes compliance costs that many cannot meet.