Time to Make Your Voices Heard!

I have perhaps the most important request of you readers since I started blogging on the CPSIA 18 months ago.

Tomorrow at 2pm Eastern time, the House Energy and Commerce Committee Committee will be marking up Henry Waxman’s “fix” to the CPSIA. In my opinion, this is no fix at all. I sent the e-mail below out earlier today that details why I think this “deal” should be rejected.

Now is the time for your voices to be heard. I encourage you to e-mail members of the Committee before 2pm tomorrow to voice your concerns about the proposed “fix” and demand that the Committee begin drafting a legislative solution that truly addresses the problems with the CPSIA.

You can find e-mail addresses for the Committee at here. Click the name of the Member of Congress, then click “contact” and that will take you to a form where you can submit an e-mail. You can choose one Committee member or all of them – it’s your choice but I ask you to send at least one e-mail by 2pm tomorrow. If you happen to live in the Congressional District of a Committee Member, even better.

If we don’t speak up now, we have only ourselves to blame.

My letter from earlier today:

Dear Friend,

We are at a critical juncture right now as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is in the late stages of considering an amendment to the CPSIA. The proposed legislation has been analyzed in my blog over the past few weeks, but is now about to move to the subcommittee “mark-up” phase. Assuming it proceeds past mark-up, the bill will be put to a vote at the committee and then by the House, and submitted to the Senate for its consideration. This could happen rather quickly given its sponsorship by Henry Waxman. Notwithstanding his desires, the Republicans are not yet on board with this “bipartisan” bill and Senate cooperation is another unknown.

I wanted you to see my latest blogpost on this amendment and hope you will contact your representatives in Washington to express your concern. The new Waxman Amendment does nothing to fix the fundamental issues in the CPSIA and continues to stack the deck against small business in favor of big business and certain favored industries. If this legislation proceeds in its present form, Congress is likely to assert that they have “listened” to our complaints and addressed them, washing their hands of the matter. With almost 2500 pages of rules already promulgated by the CPSC to implement the CPSIA, and more spewing out on a daily basis, this law is not only incomprehensible to most businesses but completely unmanageable as well. Based on testimony by Chairman Inez Tenenbaum at last week’s Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, it seems clear that the CPSC is transitioning to an enforcement posture (from its implementation phase). Therefore, you can safely assume that you will held responsible in a matter of months by a CPSC that has little sympathy for your problems complying with their blizzard of rules. [If you doubt this, read my blogposts about penalties.]

The time to act is NOW. We must block this amendment.

Richard Woldenberg
Chairman
Alliance for Children’s Product Safety