United States Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science & Transportation
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Press Releases
For Immediate Release
10/30/07
Contact: Jenilee Keefe w/Inouye 202-224-7824
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Commerce Committee Approves Pryor-Inouye CPSC Reform Act
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Commerce Committee approved today S. 2045, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Reform Act of 2007. The measure, introduced by Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), improves consumer safety by increasing the CPSC’s enforcement authority and funding levels, and by strengthening consumer protection laws.
 
“This bill is about safety,” said Senator Inouye. “Harmful products continue to enter the stream of commerce, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, tens of millions of injuries, and hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to our country each year. These numbers are too high, and an effective CPSC should help reduce these grievous losses.”  
 
Specifically, the CPSC Reform Act of 2007 would:
  • Increase CPSC resources and effectiveness by providing a 58 percent increase above current funding levels over the next seven years, restoring the CPSC to a five member Commission, increasing staff to at least 500 employees by 2013, and streamlining product safety rulemaking procedures;
  • Protect children from unsafe products by requiring third party certification of children’s products, mandating tracking labels on children’s goods, and banning lead from children’s products;
  • Prevent deadly imports from entering our nation’s borders by fostering information sharing among federal, state, local, and foreign agencies, and banning the importation of recalled products;
  • Enable the assessment of larger penalties and enhance enforcement of CPSC statutes by increasing civil and criminal penalties, allowing state attorneys general to pursue civil actions, and providing whistleblower protection for manufacturers’ employees; and
  • Enhance recall effectiveness by banning the sale of recalled products, requiring companies to identify their subcontractors in the supply chain, requiring bonding of manufacturers to ensure funding for recalls, mandating tracking labels for children’s goods, enhancing public access to product safety information, and enhancing CPSC authority to order corrective action plans by the manufacturers of recalled products. 
 
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September 2008 Press Releases  « August | October »   « 2007 | 2009 » 
 
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Public Information Office: 508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg • Washington, DC 20510-6125
Tel: 202-224-5115
Hearing Room: 253 Russell Senate Office Bldg • Washington, DC 20510-6125
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