Cliff Annicelli

The CPSC Reform Act Comes To A Head
March 6, 2008

The Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act (S.2663) is expected to come to a vote this week—possibly as early as today—in the U.S. Senate after being introduced in that body of Congress on Feb. 25.

The original House of Representatives version (H.R. 4040) passed by a unanimous vote in mid-December. Watching the legislation morph over the past week will have been an eye-opener for anyone whose primary knowledge of government’s inner workings started and ended with one Schoolhouse Rock episode about how a bill becomes a law—like me. There have been all sorts of amendments tacked on that, despite the wider media’s continued linking of the Reform Act to toy safety, show how little the Act as it now exists has to do with toys since its began its journey to possible law-of-the-land status back in November, following last year’s toy recalls.

In the past week, amendments have included provisions regarding the use of formaldehyde in the manufacturing of textiles and apparel; seafood safety; standards for equestrian helmets; and the labeling of food from cloned animals.

More notably, there have been additions that could possibly doom the Act entirely.

The primary stumbling block involves a provision ordering CPSC to create a public database wherein anyone can post information about a product’s alleged faultiness—kind of like a giant, government-run version of Amazon.com’s “customer reviews” feature. The goal is to allow consumers to be able to get or offer more immediate information about a potentially hazardous product compared to the CPSC, which may or may not be already be investigating but has yet to announce anything about publicly. It’s a provision manufacturers’ groups and the White House have come out against. Whether that's what ends up sparking the Act's veto, were it to be voted onwards, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, you can track the Act’s further progress here.

Posted by Cliff Annicelli on March 6, 2008 | Comments (0)