I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3208
To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to improve the way the Con-
sumer Product Safety Commission handles defective products and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 3, 1999
Mr. BLAGOJEVICH (for himself, Mr. BERRY, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms.
MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. WAXMAN, and Mr. RUSH)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to improve
the way the Consumer Product Safety Commission han-
dles defective products and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Daniel Keysar Memo-
rial and Childhood Consumer Product Safety Act of
1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) On May 12, 1998, Chicago resident Linda
Ginzel and her husband, Boaz Keysar, lost their 16-
month old son, Danny, when a defective crib col-
lapsed and strangled him at a Chicago day care
home. Although the licensed day care facility had
been inspected just 8 days before the incident and
the crib had been recalled by the Consumer Product
Safety Commission in 1993, the day care home was
not aware of the recall and it never removed the de-
fective crib. Danny was the twelfth child to die in
this type of defective crib nationwide. Moreover, the
thirteenth child was killed in Fair Haven, New Jer-
sey just 3 months later.
(2) The Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) is an independent Federal regulatory agency
created in 1972 to protect the public against unrea-
sonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with
consumer products. Although the CPSC has jurisdic-
tion over about 15,000 types of consumer products,
its budget is less than the Food and Drug Adminis-
tration’s budget for regulating animal medicines.
(3) The budget for the Consumer Product Safe-
ty Commission has failed to keep pace with inflation.
In fact, when indexed for inflation, the Commission’s
1974 budget allocation of $30 million would be $98
million today, compared to the current level of $47
million.
(4) Although manufacturers are required by law
to report safety problems with their products, on av-
erage only about 260 reports are filed each year.
Yet, annual CPSC inspections of over 2,000 prod-
ucts consistently revealed close to half the products
in violation of CPSC regulations.
(5) On average, the CPSC recalls about 200-
300 products each year, the majority of which are
children’s products or toys.
(6) In 1998, 38 million individual units of chil-
dren’s products were recalled.
(7) Although the CPSC is able to have recalled
products removed from retail stores, it is more dif-
ficult to have recalled products removed from con-
sumers’ homes, the secondary market, including re-
sale stores and child care facilities. On average, only
10 to 30 percent of the products recalled are re-
paired or returned. The number of products de-
stroyed by the consumer is unknown. As a result,
children and other consumers are likely to be injured
and some killed by recalled products that have not
been returned, destroyed, or repaired.
SEC. 3. RECALLED PRODUCTS.
The Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2501
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘RECALLED PRODUCTS
‘‘SEC. 38. (a) Within 180 days from the date of en-
actment of this section, the Commission shall establish a
comprehensive list of all children’s products subject to re-
call or corrective action under the statutes it administers
over the last 15 years and shall undertake to make the
list widely available to the general public, State and local
governments, and the secondary market, including retail
stores and child care facilities through its toll free tele-
phone hotline, electronic mail, and web site listings. The
Commission shall develop a strategy for partnering with
State and local governments to produce and distribute the
list under this subsection to individual consumers and the
secondary market, including resale stores and child care
centers.
‘‘(b) Section 6(b) shall not apply to Commission an-
nouncements of corrective actions. All Commission an-
nouncements of corrective actions, including press re-
leases, shall be identified as ‘recall’. The announcements
shall, with respect to the product for which the announce-
ments are made—
‘‘(1) state clearly and concisely, in the strongest
possible language, the nature and extent of the prod-
uct hazard and any potential risk of injury; and
‘‘(2) shall include the number of known deaths,
injuries and incidents associated with the product
hazard being corrected.
In stating the hazard and risk of injury, the announce-
ment shall use clear and unambiguous language intended
to motivate consumers to participate in the recall. In addi-
tion, the Commission shall publicly post press releases and
other announcements of corrective action, e.g. annual re-
port listings in a timely manner.
‘‘(c) The Commission shall establish a pilot program
to work with manufacturers and retailers to obtain the
identity of consumers who purchase specified juvenile or
children’s products so the consumer can be notified in the
event of a product recall.
‘‘(d) The Commission shall report to Congress annu-
ally on the effectiveness of the recalls ordered under sec-
tion 15(d) for each specific product so that the percentage
of products sold and subject to such recall or corrective
action and actually recalled or repaired may be determined
and made available to the general public through its toll
free telephone hotline, electronic mail, and website.’’.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
The first sentence of section 32(a) of the Consumer
Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2081) is amended by strik-
ing out ‘‘not to exceed’’ and all that follows and inserting
‘‘$100 million for each of the fiscal years 2001, 2002, and
2003.’’.
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