CPSIA: Act Now- Your Email TODAY Matters!

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 14, 2009, 10:00 AM the first Congressional hearing on the impact of the CPSIA on Small Business is scheduled.  Finally.

Yes, it’s short notice, but I encourage as many negatively impacted small and micro-businesses as possible to email their story to be entered into the Congressional record.  This is our chance to officially and directly explain to Congress what the CPSIA is doing to our small businesses.  They can no longer claim they aren’t aware of the issues once it is on the official record, so make your story known!

Email your story of CPSIA-induced business challenges TODAY, Wednesday, May 13 (preferably in .pdf format to the committee staffer organizing the hearing: erik.lieberman@mail.house.us.gov.  Please use a subject line that makes the urgency obvious, like, “Submission of Testimony for the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight: The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and Small Business”.

Click here to see a blurb about the hearing and list of speakers (scroll about halfway down on the page).  I’m excited to see that Star Bright Baby (a member of the Handmade Toy Alliance) and an Etsy seller are among the speakers listed.

Here is the letter I sent in.  I was unsure of the correct format for these things, but I decided that sending something was better than sending nothing at all.

May 13, 2009
1040 Sagebrook Way
Webster, NY 14580

Chairman Bart Stupak
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
2268 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Subject: Testimony for the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight: CPSIA and Small Business – Hearing scheduled for May 14, 2009

Dear Chairman Stupak and Subcommittee members:

I opened my online hair accessory boutique, Jen Lynn Designs, in September of 2006.  This business has allowed me to contribute to our family income, on a flexible schedule, while I am home caring for my two young children.  I have worked hard to develop safe, quality products, a sound business and loyal customer base.

My kids’ safety and security is my highest priority.  That is why, facing the unmanageable provisions of the CPSIA, I shut down my store on February 10, 2009, just as all the work I have put into building it was starting to pay off.  I believe my hair accessories are safe – and according to my domestic suppliers – made with compliant materials.  But I can’t afford the required testing to prove it.

Operating in violation of the testing, certification and labeling requirements poses a risk to my family that I am unwilling to accept, especially considering the large fines and jail time associated.  So I have decided to close, (until and unless the law is changed) and endure the financial hit rather than expose my family to potential liability. I implore Congress to urgently make changes to the CPSIA, allowing responsible small domestic businesses to survive and go on supplying the safe, quality products families have come to rely on from crafters and artisans like myself.

Please consider the following fatal flaws in the CPSIA for micro-businesses:

• Testing and certification requirements are impossible for small producers to comply with.  I can see no circumstances under which accepted lead testing methods would be affordable for a business my size, with an extensive and diverse product line of made-to-order and customized items, many of which are unique.
• Labeling requirements necessitate laborious internal recordkeeping impossible for a one-person shop to absorb.  The labeling requirements not only present logistical and cost challenges (where exactly shall I place a permanent label on a 2” wide hair bow?) but also unmanageable back-end tracking.  For example, when one roll of red ribbon runs out, I get another.  That ribbon may be used in 50 different hair bow designs, and may be combined with as many as 10 other ribbons in a single bow. Tracking each ribbon/component back to its source/lot/batch per completed item would require more hours (not to mention specialized software) than a one-person shop can reasonably allocate to recordkeeping.
• Enforcement stays imposed by the CPSC offer no protection from State Attorneys General inclined to enforce the CPSIA as written – as they are explicitly empowered to do within the CPSIA.  A legislative fix is required.

Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Swab DeGrace
Jen Lynn Designs
jen@jenlynndesigns.com