House Approves Conference Report for Child Safety Bill

HOUSE APPROVES CONFERENCE REPORT FOR CHILD SAFETY BILL

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, joined a bipartisan majority in the House today to vote for the Conference Report on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, H.R. 4040. As a member of the conference committee, Congresswoman Schakowsky worked hard to strengthen the product safety standards and testing provisions in the bill, which originally passed the House unanimously last December. The conference report included several provisions offered by Congresswoman Schakowsky, including mandatory standards and testing for infant and toddler products, postage-paid recall registration cards that must be attached to products and mandatory toy safety standards and testing. The conference report passed the House today by a vote of 424 to 1.

Congresswoman Schakowsky delivered the following statement on the House floor moments before the conference report passed the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I rise to proudly support the conference report to H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. When we began the process of reforming the Consumer Product Safety Commission over a year ago, I set out with one goal: to assure that the toys and products I buy for my grandchildren are safe. I am pleased to say that the conference report we are considering today fulfills that goal for all of America's children.

H.R. 4040 is legislation that every Member of Congress can be proud to support. It is a product of bipartisan negotiation and compromise, and I would like to thank our esteemed Chairman John Dingell for shepherding us through this process, as well as Ranking Member Joe Barton. I would also like to thank our Senate counterparts — chairing the conference was Senator Inouye, and the key author of the Senate companion bill was Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas. They both deserve the gratitude of the House, especially if they pass the bill this week!

I would also like to welcome back to Washington my friend and Chairman of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee Congressman Bobby Rush who was the chief sponsor of this bill. You have been missed, and I am so happy to have you back on this momentous occasion.

I started my career in politics 18 years ago — about the last time the Consumer Product Safety Commission was reauthorized — and I can honestly say that this piece of legislation is one of the finest that I have had the privilege of shaping and voting for during my entire career.

With this conference report, Congress is breathing new, needed life into the CPSC. For the first time, we are virtually banning lead in all children's products as well as the harmful phthalates that can cause hormonal damage. We are improving the CPSC's enforcement authority, and maintaining the authority of State Attorneys General to ensure that the products sold in their States comply with the law. And we are providing consumers with a publicly-searchable incident database that will allow them to report product hazards to one another.

There are three provisions that I am particularly proud to have authored in this conference report.

The first is language directing the CPSC to devise mandatory safety standards for infant and toddler durable products -- those things that are the staple of every nursery including cribs, high chairs, play pens, strollers, basinets. It also requires pre-market testing of those products to ensure that they meet those standards. Bottom line — we will no longer be using our children as test dummies. The government will be assuring their safety.

Second, I'm gratified that the conference report includes The Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act in its entirety. I crafted this legislation in honor of Danny Keysar, who was strangled to death when he was 16 months old at his licensed childcare facility when the portable crib he was sleeping in collapsed.

The crib that killed Danny had been recalled five years earlier, but the daycare center didn't know that. To improve the product recall system, manufacturers of children's products will be required to attach a postage-paid recall registration card to each product that can be mailed in to notify the purchaser when a product is recalled for safety reasons. This provision is a tribute to the work of Danny's parents, Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar, who created the organization "Kids in Danger... three weeks after Danny's death in order to prevent other children and families from suffering the same tragedy.

Finally, I am delighted that the conference report contains a provision to immediately adopt the set of existing voluntary toy standards as a mandatory standard on an interim basis. Then the CPSC, working with consumer groups, will assess those standards, beginning with the toys that present the greatest hazards, and develop, not only the best possible mandatory standards, but require pre-testing to those standards. At last, all toys will be tested before they arrive on toy store shelves.

Madam Speaker, the conference report we will adopt today will finally bring the CPSC into the 21st Century and will, I hope, transform it into the world's foremost consumer protection agency. American consumers deserve no less. My grandchildren and all our children deserve no less....