The CPSC Bill(s)

Yesterday, the Senate passed high-profile legislation to reform and strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Included in this legislation, which GAP strongly advocates, are whistleblower protections for workers who report safety concerns regarding products in commerce.

The bill now heads to a joint House-Senate committee for reconciliation – last year the House passed a version without these strong whistleblower protections, which are also opposed by the White House. From the Chicago Tribune:

As the lawmakers negotiate a compromise, the areas where lobbying will be most intense include proposals to protect whistle-blowers who expose dangerous products at their companies and a provision to give state attorneys general greater power to enforce safety laws.

GAP and coalition partners will be involved in spreading the word about how necessary these worker protections are for ensuring family and child safety. Americans deserve to know that toys they buy for their children are safe. Without these protections, whistleblowers who wish to report serious safety concerns about products will be heavily deterred from doing so.   

Almost lost in the coverage of this bill, however, was another passing of Senate legislation from Wednesday night. That’s when the Senate approved a measure to ban industry-paid vacations and travel for all employees of the CPSC.

Seems like that should have already been a law, right? Well, it actually took a scandal to serve as an impetus for the bill. This law is a direct result of investigatory articles from late last year detailing that Nancy A. Nord, CPSC Chairwoman, took “dozens of trips” on the dime of several industry lobbyists that she is in charge of regulating, including those from “toy, appliance and children’s furniture.”

Days before that story broke, Nord came out publicly opposing the CSPS strengthening legislation, including the whistleblower provisions, and people were a little confused as to why. But then the story hit, and things were made a little clearer.

Altogether, it appears that Nord received almost $60,000 worth of travel and expenses for her trips, which included “China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.”

Overall, a couple of very good bills. Now on to the next steps.

-- Dylan Blaylock