CPSC's Tenenbaum & Northup Testify on FY 2012 Budget Request
During March 31, 2011 testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee1, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Tenenbaum and Commissioner Northup repeated their recent statements about CPSC’s 2012 budget request of $122 million, a slight increase from the current $118.2 million funding level.
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Tenenbaum Says Increase Needed for More Investigations and Enforcement
Chairman Tenenbaum stated that the increased funds would allow CPSC to shift resources from expenses associated with IT modernization and Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CSPSIA) rulemakings to increased investigation and enforcement activities.
She noted that the increase was necessary for CPSC to hire an additional 34 full-time employees (FTEs) to fill areas of critical need. In particular, she said that CPSC needs 14 new FTEs to assist with rapid incident review and six new FTEs to investigate the increasing number of incident reports received (presumably as a result of the new public database of consumer product incidents).
Northup Says CPSIA Reform Needed, Not More Funds
Commissioner Northup stated that amendments to the CPSIA, not increased funds, would help the agency, since the CPSIA consumes a disproportionate amount of agency resources.
Among other things, Northup urged the subcommittee to prohibit funding for the new public database until CPSC’s regulations ensure that the information contained in a report of harm is verifiable, and the CPSC has established an effective procedure for resolving a claim of material inaccuracy before a report of harm is put on the Database.
She also urged the subcommittee to prohibit funding for CPSC to implement any new third-party testing and certification requirements of the CPSIA. This would ensure that the agency focuses on ensuring safety rather than on enforcing standards and paperwork requirements entirely unrelated to risk.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/06/11 news, 11040621, for BP summary of a House subcommittee draft bill to make the CPSIA less stringent and April 7, 20111 hearing on the bill.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/03/11 news, 11030310, for BP summary of CPSC’s FY 2012 budget request.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/18/11 news, 11021819, for BP summary of Tenenbaum and Northup’s February 17, 2011 testimony on CPSC resources and the CPSIA before another House subcommittee.)
1Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government