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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Senate Panel Moves CPSC Reform Act; Focus Should Remain on Solving Problems

Yesterday, Reg•Watch blogged about how Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are calling for the resignation of the acting-chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Nancy Nord. Without Nord, CPSC would be unable to conduct formal business likely making consumer product problems worse for Americans, at least in the short term.

Calling for Nord's resignation is problematic for another reason too. The Democrats are now shifting attention to a personal political battle and away from steps Congress is taking to improve product safety.

Lost in the battle between Nord and the Democrats is news that the Senate Commerce Committee passed a proactive, bipartisan bill which would make sweeping positive changes at CPSC — the very bill that started the battle in the first place.

Yesterday afternoon, the committee approved with bipartisan support the CPSC Reform Act of 2007 (S. 2045). Among other things, the bill would:

• Dramatically increase the budget and staffing at CPSC;
• Require third-party testing and certification for children's products;
• Ban lead in children's products; and
• Enable CPSC to levy greater fines on delinquent manufacturers.

Until Nord began illogically opposing this legislation and Democrats began calling for her resignation, the debate over improving consumer product safety had been positive and constructive. The CPSC Reform Act of 2007 emerged in that climate.

CPSC officials recognized they could not adequately fulfill their mission with the resources at hand, and Congress recognized it had been somewhat negligent in pursuing policy to improve the situation. Industry groups and manufacturers also joined the call for more resources and regulatory authority at CPSC recognizing everyone benefits when product safety is assured.

Nord and Democrats should get back to a proactive debate if they intend to solve the problems of our product safety regulatory system.