CPSC Commissioner Appointment Likely to Take Time; Won't Resolve Problem Anyway

(Below is a letter I sent today to Congressman McGovern's Legislative Aide, and to the Kennedy & Kerry offices)

Here is a snippet from a newsletter I received today about the CPSIA and the current status of affairs:

 

Update
Prepared by Eric Stone, K&L Gates LLC on behalf of ASTRA.
Political landscape:  Do not expect significant changes in the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) positions or movement of any remedial legislation on Capitol Hill until after President Obama has appointed a Chairman to CPSC.  It often takes 6 to 12 months in a new administration for such appointments and it is likely to still take some time.  In addition to the delay in making an appointment, you should expect a new Commissioner to have a significant learning curve once he or she gets “on board.” In other words, our best guess is that the status quo will largely prevail well into the summer and probably beyond.

 

Is this true?  Can we expect that we cannot expect a new Commissioner until mid-Summer to as late as next winter?  (that isn’t counting the time for him/her to get up to speed).  It seems as though this solution to everyones problems isn’t going to come soon enough (not that I am convinced by the argument that the Commissioner can fix this---they can’t).  But that is the solution I am hearing, yet, you are asking us to sit by idly waiting for this panacea, but it isn’t even going to happen for many more months? 

 

In case you need yet another example of why we need this law fixed…here is a recent comment from my blog:

 I was one of those work at home moms - until I closed my business due to the CPSIA. While others have chosen to work through the stay of enforcement and hope for more lasting reform, the simple fact that SAGs are not legally bound to the stay means that should any one of 50 SAGs choose to enforce it today (and several have stated their rabid intent) there is nothing stopping them. I was not willing to expose my family to such potential liability. I started my business to help support them, after all.

While I regret the impact on my own business, I’m even more upset about losing access the unique, safe, handcrafted-in-the-US products I value for my kids. It’s not easy teaching them that respecting the planet includes making careful purchasing decisions. How will we teach them when all that is available are the mass-produced plastic junk toys we are force fed by the giant toy companies that abused consumer trust and started this avalanche in the first place?

 

She knows something that Congress is refusing to recognize. That is the “wild west” legal landscape that the CPSIA has created. An new Commissioner is powerless to fix that. 

I hope we don’t have to wait until our industry is in ashes before you decide to call the fire department.

Sincerely,

 

Rob Wilson
Director of Marketing
Challenge & Fun, Inc.