The Back Alley Archives

Well at least he sent a response.  I'm not exactly thrilled with it because it does not address the concerns I mentioned in my letter, and especially since this is the republican Senator that I voted for...but oh well.  Doc, what should I write back?

ear Mrs. Bennett:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.

On November 1, 2007, Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL) introduced the CPSC Reform Act (H.R. 4040). Besides increasing funding for the CPSC, this bill strengthens civil penalties for violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act, outlaws children's products containing lead, and makes it illegal for retailers to sell recalled products. Additionally, H.R. 4040 requires the commission to enforce whistleblower protections for employees of manufacturers, importers and CPSC workers. This measure was passed by the House of Representatives on December 19, 2007, without opposition. On July 31, 2008, the Senate passed H.R. 4040 with my full support by a vote 89 to 3. On August 14, 2008, the President signed this bill into law.

I am committed to providing the Consumer Produced Safety Commission with the tools and resources it needs to carry out its vital mission. As we proceed in the 111th Congress, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind regarding any additional legislation involving the CPSC.

Again, thank you for sharing your views with me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator

Sounds like a canned response from one of his aides. Of course everyone passed it...'think of the chil-ren.' I think you should call him!

Man, I would have to rehearse that if I did it. I want to respond back something like, "before you send me another canned response, how about you read the bill that you mentioned and explain to me how these requirements you are putting on businesses can be enforced...without them going out of business that is". Obviously, I haven't thought it through enough.

Meh.

do it!

Yep, canned response. They didn't address the substance of your letter at all.

You should follow up.

it all depends really on how much time you wanna devote to it but i'd take an offensive on Sen. Martinez and ask him if he thinks you're stupid....your well thought out and succinct letter was not answered...at all.

so yeah - answer my question or it will be you who shall be labeled stupid for not understanding what it is i am concerned about.

Tell him you plan on spreading the word regarding the effects of this bill to any small business owner that you can and ask him if he thinks he can live without all of those votes during the next election.

Eh...I responded...I couldn't help it.

Sen. Martinez,
While I appreciate someone from your staff at least sending a canned response to my email concerning this Reform Act, it didn't address my concerns and quite frankly with the way the Democrats are running congress I'm not convinced you even have fully read the bill and realize what a huge problem this is going to be for many businesses (small and large).

"The law as written extends to ANY product intended for kids, including products which obviously don’t contain lead, such as diapers, children’s books, wooden toys, trapper keepers, crayons, and Hanna Montana lunchboxes. The probable result, as a number have pointed out, will be the ruin of small and mid-sized businesses, which can’t afford to pay for this testing, and consolidation of the market for children’s products (those who have kids know what a vast market this is) in the hands of a few giant corporations, i.e., the Mattels and Fisher-Prices who started the problem by outsourcing their manufacture to China."

This Act goes WAY beyond what is necessary to address a problem that while serious does not warrant the drastic requirements small business will be burdened with.

"So far as I can tell, there are no reports, whatsoever, of kids suffering injury as a result of ingesting lead paint from the toys that inspired this law."

PLEASE...whoever is reading this, please make sure you read the reform act fully and as I stated in my original letter please support Sen. Jim DeMint's reform for this act that will at least help with the outragious requirements being put on our small businesses. Again, for information on this bill please see Sen. DeMints reform proposal here...

http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=JimsJournal.Detail&Blog_ID=295d58b2-b6fe-c446-1432-24b6199424ed

Thank you again for your time and consideration. While I wasn't pleased with your response, you did respond.

Allison Bennett

go get em Allison!

Perfect response Alli.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a much better letter from my Democratic Senator. So there you go slider!


Dear Mrs. Bennett:

Thank you for contacting me regarding concerns about the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, the safety of consumer products--especially those intended for infants and young children--is one of my top priorities. Last year, I cosponsored the CPSIA because I believed the public had lost confidence in the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC's) ability to protect consumers. The legislation contained a number of provisions intended to restore that confidence, including new safety standards, a substantial increase in funding for the CPSC, and a new CPSC laboratory testing facility.

However, I also understand your concern that the CPSC’s implementation of this law may have unintended consequences that negatively affect small manufacturers, retailers, and consignment shops. The CPSIA was drafted in a manner that provides substantial flexibility for the CPSC to deal with the concerns of small business entities and manufacturers of products that are "inherently safe." On January 16, 2009, the chair of both the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a joint letter to CPSC Acting Chair Nancy Nord requesting that she use the existing authority in the CPSIA to issue guidance on: 1) the applicability of testing requirements to children’s books and certain children’s apparel; 2) consignment store resellers of children’s products; 3) component part testing; and 4) testing guidance to small business entities. The letter further calls on Acting Chair Nord to issue guidance on these issues as soon as possible.

I share the concerns of the committee leadership, and will continue to work with the CPSC to ensure that they implement the CPSIA according to congressional intent, and in a manner that does not unduly penalize small business entities. Should you have further concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.



P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians. If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm

That sounds better. Now let's hope they get it fixed.

Much better response.

I agree...I wrote him and thanked him for his more direct response. Even if it came from one of his staffers, at least it seems his staffers are better at responding to concerned citizens than Martinez staffers.

I get updates from Bill Nelson

It's a better response, but it ignores:

(1) The CPSC has not issued any guidelines (and certainly no exemptions) for things like library books and ATVs and ball point pens.

(2) The law empowers state attorneys general to enforce the law, regardless of what the CPSC does.