We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Rick Woldenberg for his tireless dedication to this cause, and for keeping us informed and updated through his blog.  You can read the latest about the hearing here.  Rick collected more than 110 letters protesting the committee’s decision to hold a hearing without testimony from small businesses.  Because I was out of town, my letter was sent late (probably too late for inclusion) but I will post it here anyway.  I strongly recommend checking out the letters – it is an impressive collection.  Here’s mine:

September 9, 2009

The Honorable Henry Waxman, Chairman

The Honorable Bobby Rush, Subcommittee Chairman

House Energy and Commerce Committee

2125 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Joe Barton, Ranking Member

The Honorable George Radanovich, Subcommittee Ranking Member

House Energy and Commerce Committee

2322A Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:

I am at a loss to comprehend how the Committee hearing set for September 10, 2009 in which the Hon. Inez Tenenbaum, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is scheduled to testify on the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) can be of any benefit to Congress or the citizens you represent without additional testimony from affected parties, especially the small businesses devastated by this law.

These overly-broad regulations have wreaked havoc on small businesses, crafters, and artisans producing a wide array of safe, domestically made products.  These products are good for our kids and good for our economy.  Thousands of letters to this committee and to the CPSC have detailed “unintended consequences” including business closures, like mine.  I would argue that the implementation of CPSIA has made my children significantly less safe.  Consider:

• Because of CPSIA, the CPSC is now busy issuing yard sale regulations, advising the ALA to sequester old library books, writing “handbooks” explaining that only used clothing without zippers, snaps, buttons or screen prints are fit be donated, reused or sold, as well as producing lengthy legalese detailing (without any clarity) the difference between a ball point pen intended to be used by a child vs. one intended to be used by an adult, but which may appeal to a child.  All this, instead of using the Commission’s resources to police the marketplace for real dangers.
• Because of the CPSIA (inspired by the 2007-8 toy recalls) Mattel (one of the offenders) has received approval to test their own products in-house, while everyone else is subjected to expensive (and objective) third-party testing.  How does that make my kids safer?  Not to mention, how is this good government practice: the offender is rewarded with less competition (through small business closures), and cost-cutting self-policing, while the innocent get regulated out of business?

The few steps the CPSC has taken to ease implementation have questionable relevance, as State Attorneys General retain the right to enforce the law as Congress wrote it – and as it remains today – unchanged due to this committee’s unwillingness to fix the obvious and fatal flaws.

I urge you to reconsider.  Hold hearings in good faith with real testimony from those affected.  Rework the law to allow the CPSC the latitude to focus its resources on actual risks, allow small businesses to achieve compliance by using compliant component parts, and require State Attorneys General wishing to enforce the law, to do so only according to the CPSC’s interpretation of the law, as businesses cannot reasonably be accountable to fifty different interpretations of the law.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Swab DeGrace

Owner, Designer

Jen Lynn Designs (closed since 2/10/09)

All three CPSC members’ statements on yesterday’s decision to deny the exemption of crystal and glass beads underline the inflexibility of this law, which has stripped the CPSC of its authority to use risk-based analysis in their determinations. Their statements included the following excerpts:

From Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum:

“… In making a determination, I was mindful that the statute does not use the term “harmful” amount or another term which would allow staff to utilize a risk based approach. …Thus while Commission staff recognized that most crystal and glass beads do not appear to pose a serious health risk to children, because ingested crystal beads that leach lead will result in some lead absorption, the request for an exclusion must be denied.” “…the statutory language…does not allow for the consideration of risk.”

From Commissioner Thomas Moore:

“… To allow this exception to our enforcement activities is simply not supportable under the strict standards of the CPSIA.”

From Commissioner Nancy Nord:

“… Because the statute does not give us the ability to be flexible, I cannot vote to grant an exclusion in this case. However, not granting an exclusion will result in the removal of safe products from the marketplace, causing significant economic injury. Therefore I believe there is only one equitable solution available to us and that is to grant a stay of enforcement for a limited time while Congress considers the unintended consequences of the CPSIA, e.g. products banned that have no real safety issues; economic hardship that is unnecessary to achieve consumer safety; and in this case, 10-year old girls being told by the Federal Government that they cannot have rhinestones on their jeans.”

Their full statements are available here:

Commissioners’ Statements on the Request from the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association to Exclude Crystal and Glass Beads in Children’s Products from the Lead Content Limits Under Section 101(b)(1) of the CPSIA:
Chairman Tenenbaum <http://www.cpsc.gov/pr/tenenbaum071709.pdf>
Commissioner Moore <http://www.cpsc.gov/pr/moore071709.pdf>
Commissioner Nord <http://www.cpsc.gov/pr/nord071709.pdf>

Past commission statements had already made the point that their hands were tied by the CPSIA, so what’s different now? Congress can no longer blame Republican Nancy Nord for CPSIA problems. Obama appointee, Inez Tenenbaum is the new Chairwoman. Ms. Tenenbaum’s statement agrees that there is no wiggle room in the CPSIA to “utilize a risk based approach”.  Congress just lost their scapegoat.

As Chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over the CPSIA, it’s way past time for Henry Waxman to step up and fix this legislative disaster. Holding hearings with testimony from affected parties would be a good place to start.

On July 7th, Henry Waxman publicly agreed to hold hearings on the CPSIA during an appearance on The Diane Rehm Show, but he has since cancelled those hearings yet again. Apparently, he can make time to promote his own book, but not to save and/or restore thousands of US jobs with the stroke of a pen, or insure the integrity of legislation he supports.

Please contact your representatives and urge them to push for CPSIA hearings and reform, especially if they are on the House Energy and Commerce Committee:

Henry Waxman (chair) D-CA (30th Dist)
John Dingell (chair emeritus) D-MI (15th Dist)
Edward Markey D-MA (7th Dist)
Rick Boucher D-VA (9th Dist)
Frank Pallone, Jr D-NJ (6th Dist)
Bart Gordon D-TN (6th Dist)
Bobby Rush D-IL (1st Dist)
Anna Eshoo D-CA (14th Dist)
Bart Stupak D-MI (1st Dist)
Eliot Engel D-NY (17th Dist)
Gene Green D-TX (29th Dist)
Diana DeGette D-CO (1st Dist)
Lois Capps D-CA (23rd Dist)
Michael Doyle D-PA (14th Dist)
Jane Harman D-CA (36th Dist)
Janice Schakowsky D-IL (9th Dist)
Charles Gonzalez D-TX (20th Dist)
Jay Inslee D-WA (1st Dist)
Tammy Baldwin D-WI (2nd Dist)
Mike Ross D-AR (4th Dist)
Anthony Weiner D-NY (9th Dist)
Jim Matheson D-UT (2nd Dist)
GK Butterfield D-NC (1st Dist)
Charlie Melancon D-LA (3rd Dist)
John Barrow D-GA (12th Dist)
Baron Hill D-IN (9th Dist)
Doris Matsui D-CA (5th Dist)
Donna Christensen D-VI
Kathy Castor D-FL (11th Dist)
John Sarbanes D-MD (3rd Dist)
Christopher Murphy D-CT (5th Dist)
Zack Space D-OH (18th Dist)
Jerry McNerney D-CA (11th Dist)
Betty Sutton D-OH (13th Dist)
Bruce Braley D-IA (1st Dist)
Peter Welch D-VT
Joe Barton (ranking member) R-TX (6th Dist)
Ralph Hall R-TX (4th Dist)
Fred Upton R-MI (6th Dist)
Cliff Stearns R-FL (6th Dist)
Nathan Deal R-GA (9th Dist)
Ed Whitfield R-KY (1st Dist)
John Shimkus R-IL (19th Dist)
John Shadegg R-AZ (3rd Dist)
Roy Blunt R-MO (7th Dist)
Steve Buyer R-IN (4th Dist)
George Radanovich R-CA (19th Dist)
Joseph Pitts R-PA (16th Dist)
Mary Bono Mack R-CA (45th Dist)
Greg Walden R-OR (2nd Dist)
Lee Terry R-NE (2nd Dist)
Mike Rogers R-MI (8th Dist)
Sue WIlkins Myrick R-NC (9th Dist)
John Sullivan R-OK (1st Dist)
Tim Murphy R-PA (18th Dist)
Michael Burgess R-TX (26th Dist)
Marsha Blackburn R-TN (7th Dist)
Phil Gingrey R-GA (11th Dist)
Steve Scalise R-LA (1st Dist)

Keep writing, emailing and calling.  Many livelihoods depend on it!