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Senate committee agrees on CPSC reform bill

Measure one step closer to adoption

Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, February 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee agreed on legislation designed to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the wake of massive product recalls last year.

The bill would authorize funding for seven years starting at $88.5 million in 2009 and increase by 10% per year through 2015. For 2009 and 2010, an additional $40 million would be authorized to upgrade CPSC’s laboratories. The CPSC’s budget for 2007 was $63 million and is $63.5 million for 2008.

The bill is expected to reach the Senate floor in late February and or early March. The House of Representatives passed a CPSC reform bill in December. The House and Senate would still need to work out differences between the two bills.

The bill would increase the civil penalty cap to $20 million from the current $1.8 million, and increase criminal penalties to five years in jail for those who violate product safety laws.

The CPSC has worked with the Department of Justice in the past, mainly on fireworks violations that resulted in prison sentences, but the proposed legislation would increase the scope of violations that the government agencies would work on jointly.

The bill also would allow a two-member quorum to conduct business for nine months, since the CPSC is currently without a three-person quorum and cannot conduct actions such as mandatory recalls. To prevent future lack of quorum, the bill would restore the commission to five members from the current three members.

Additionally, the legislation would allow state attorneys general to obtain injunctive relief to enforce product safety laws; provide whistleblower protections for employees of manufacturers, retailers, importers and government; make it unlawful for retailers to sell a recalled product; and allow the CPSC to expedite the disclosure of industry-provided information to public health interests.

The bill also would increase the number of full-time personnel at the commission to at least 500 by Oct. 1, 2013. The current staff totals about 400 employees.

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