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68-522: This act was seen in part as controversial because of its impact to many types of businesses. A previous, less sweeping bill, the Lead-Free Toys Act (H.R. 3473, sponsored by Representative Henry Waxman ), was incorporated into this act. The earlier bill was prompted by various scandals over high lead content in toys, including a December 2006 report at Waxman's behest showing high lead levels in items sold in U.S. Capitol gift shops. The law increases

136-709: A bachelor's degree in political science in 1961 and a J.D. degree from UCLA School of Law in 1964. After graduating, he worked as a lawyer. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 1968, and served three terms. Along with U.S. Representative Howard Berman , whom he studied with at UCLA, Waxman co-founded the Los Angeles County Young Democrats . In 1974, Democratic U.S. Representative Chet Holifield retired after 16 terms in Congress. Waxman gave up his state assembly seat to run for

204-637: A D.C.-based lobbying firm, Regent Lecturer for University of California, Los Angeles, and lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health . Waxman was born to a Jewish household in Los Angeles, California, the son of Esther (née Silverman) and Ralph Louis Waxman. His father was born in Montreal, Canada; his mother was from Pennsylvania. All of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He attended college at UCLA , earning

272-682: A Democratic position." Waxman supported fellow representative Jane Harman during her primary challenge from Marcy Winograd when Winograd said she would support a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead of the two-state resolution endorsed by Waxman and Harman. Saying it suffers from "a culture of corruption" and "has become obsessed with secrecy," he accused the American government of having abandoned these values. "(The) Republican leadership ignores presidential rules and norms and has no consideration for custom," he said. Waxman

340-662: A bill to the U.S. House that would lift the ban on federal money for subway tunneling in the district. This bill passed the House via unanimous vote on September 20, 2006. Waxman, as the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, oversaw the case of Solyndra , a solar company that filed for bankruptcy after receiving a $ 535 million loan guarantee from the DOE. Waxman recounted meeting with Solyndra's CEO two months before they filed for bankruptcy, who assured him that "Solyndra’s future

408-579: A child's mouth or childcare articles phthalates DINP , DIDP , and DnOP at levels higher than 0.1% on an interim basis until a report from the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) is received, after which the CPSC can continue the prohibition by rule. CPSC General Counsel Falvey provided an advisory opinion on October 17, 2008 that the phthalate ban does not apply to children's footwear. Falvey provided an additional opinion on November 17, 2008 that

476-573: A component of solder ; whereas the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive standards have long attempted to phase out lead solder, the tin solder is known to suffer from a defect known as tin whiskers . This means that entire classes of products may become unavailable as manufacturers withdraw from the markets, banned as they are unable to pass tests, or defective as they substitute inferior components. Additionally, products such as “regular Children’s books”, that have never been

544-463: A government watchdog group, presented Waxman with its Good Government Award for his various contributions to government transparency and oversight. On the day after the 2006 elections, Waxman directed his aides to draw up an "oversight plan" for the panel. He had already let it be known that he wanted to investigate Halliburton , as well as its alleged malfeasance related to government contracts in Iraq . It

612-401: A health problem, are being included in the products that must be tested and certified. The law requires some rulings from the CPSC on a predetermined schedule, and allows for other rulings as necessary. Manufacturers must wait until a final ruling is made before they can perform the required testing or gather the required documentation. Many times this ruling isn't available until after the item

680-559: A new application programming interface (API) to facilitate programmatic access to the Federal Register content. The API is fully RESTful , utilizing the HATEOAS architecture with results delivered in the JSON format. Details are available at the developers page and Ruby and Python client libraries are available. In addition to purchasing printed copies or subscriptions, the contents of

748-629: A permanent distinguishing mark or label that indicates the manufacturer, cohort (batch), and any other mark necessary to trace the product. The purpose of the Act's whistleblower provision is to protect employees who do the right thing by speaking up when they believe their employer has violated a consumer product safety law. Specifically, if employees of a manufacturer, private labeler, distributor, or retailer of consumer products, may not have their employer retaliate against them for reporting potential violations of consumer product safety laws. Additionally, under

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816-420: A product subject to a consumer product safety rule will provide a "General Conformity Certificate" (GCC) to certify, based on unit testing or a reasonable testing program, that the product complies with all safety rules. This requirement was imposed on every product manufactured on or after November 12, 2008. The certificate must: These certificates must accompany the product through the distribution chain through

884-562: A provision for exceptions to be made by the CPSC, but it has not done so for these products as of March 2009. The ban has left many motorsports retailers with unsalable products, and motorcycle industry leaders suggest that the ban may cost the US economy $ 1 billion. However, on 08/12/11, an amendment was signed by President Obama, which exempts youth ATVs and motorcycles from the CPSIA. Henry Waxman Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939)

952-404: A single mill product such as organic cotton cloth coupled with a few organic dyes and a few pieces of hardware such as zippers or buttons . Those can be combined in limitless ways and in various sizes. Testing all of the final products generally provides no more information than would testing the individual inputs (or "components"), but is vastly more expensive. In response to this criticism,

1020-581: Is already required. For example, the law required the issuance of a GCC for products manufactured "on and after November 12, 2008", but the GCC ruling was not published in the Federal Register until November 18, 2008. These criticisms have been leveled by large and small manufacturers alike. According to 2002 business census data, 99% of the apparel manufacturers in the United States are small businesses, using

1088-528: Is an American politician and lobbyist who was a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party . His district included much of the western part of the city of Los Angeles, as well as West Hollywood , Santa Monica , and Beverly Hills , and was numbered the 24th district from 1975 to 1993, the 29th district from 1993 to 2003, and the 30th district from 2003 to 2013, changing because of redistricting after

1156-409: Is subject to anything the CPSC regulates by requiring certificates of conformance which state that the product was tested to conform to the regulations it is subject to. The law defines a "children's product" as a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. In determining whether a consumer product is primarily intended for a child 12 years of age or younger,

1224-465: Is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on federal holidays . The final rules promulgated by a federal agency and published in the Federal Register are ultimately reorganized by topic or subject matter and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which

1292-400: Is updated annually. Copies of the Federal Register may be obtained from the U.S. Government Publishing Office. Most law libraries associated with an American Bar Association -accredited law school will also have a set, as will federal depository libraries . The Federal Register has been available online since 1994. Federal depository libraries within the U.S. also receive copies of

1360-598: Is updated quarterly. The Federal Register is compiled by the Office of the Federal Register (within the National Archives and Records Administration ) and is printed by the Government Publishing Office . There are no copyright restrictions on the Federal Register ; as a work of the U.S. government , it is in the public domain . The Federal Register provides a means for the government to announce to

1428-561: Is very likely that he could also investigate the numerous scandals surrounding Jack Abramoff . This led to concerns among Democratic aides that the Government Reform Committee under Waxman would stage a repeat of the committee's performance under the Clinton administration , when it issued over 1,000 subpoenas. However, Waxman told Newsweek that he is interested in accountability and not retaliation. In 2009, he began serving as

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1496-504: The Los Angeles Times , Waxman cites the 2005 study: "The panel concurred as well that in 1985, the decision to hold further tunneling in abeyance was prudent, given the circumstances and extent of information and technology at that time. Much has changed since then to significantly improve tunneling and operation safety." In 2005, a robust real estate market, multi-dwelling construction boom, and lack of public mass transit planning on

1564-868: The 1990 , 2000 , and 2010 censuses. Waxman was an influential liberal member of Congress , and was instrumental in passing laws including the Infant Formula Act of 1980 , the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 , the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, the Clean Air Act of 1990, the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990, the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, the State Children's Health Insurance Program of 1997,

1632-410: The Federal Register , including sparklines of agency activity and maps of current rules, but is no longer available. On July 25, 2010, the Federal Register 2.0 website went live. The new website is a collaboration between the developers who created GovPulse.us, the Government Publishing Office and the National Archives and Records Administration . On August 1, 2011, the Federal Register announced

1700-626: The Federal Register . The actual date for compliance as publish for compliance will be February 8, 2013 for their own Product Testing and Certification Program. In a section of the Act known as the Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act, mandatory standards are required for infant and toddler durable products, cribs cannot be sold that don't meet current standards and all infant and toddler durable products must have product registration cards. Beginning August 14, 2009, children's products must be marked by

1768-584: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , the principal investigative committee of the House. He was the committee's ranking Democrat from 1997 to 2007. In 1998, while he was still ranking member, he created a "Special Investigations Division" to investigate matters that he felt the full committee had neglected. This was possible because the committee has broad powers to investigate any matter with federal policy implications, even if another committee has jurisdiction over it. He has also harshly criticized

1836-646: The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. In 1985, he played an instrumental role in banning federal funding for the Red Line subway in Los Angeles so that it would not go into his affluent Westside district. He is currently chairman at Waxman Strategies,

1904-515: The Red Line subway after a methane gas explosion in the Fairfax District . Prior to that, Waxman had privately expressed concerns about "gentrification" of his affluent district. Waxman maintains that the 1985 bill was sponsored in the interest of public safety and not, as some allege, to hinder access of the working classes in South and East Los Angeles to his affluent district. In a letter to

1972-517: The Small Business Administration 's definition of "less than 500 employees." Many of them believe that they will not be able to manage or afford the mandated testing and will go out of business. This has resulted in an online petition campaign by small manufacturers of children's apparel. Larger manufacturers are faced with problems stemming from their leverage, from aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, from their visibility, and from

2040-666: The 24th (1975–1993) to the 29th (1993–2003) to the 30th (2003–2013) to the 33rd (2013-2015). At the time of his retirement, he was one of the last two members, along with George Miller of California, of the large Democratic freshman class of 1975. From 2003 to 2013, Waxman's district included Santa Monica , Beverly Hills , Agoura Hills , Calabasas , Hidden Hills , Malibu , West Hollywood , and Westlake Village , as well as such areas of western Los Angeles as West Los Angeles , Fairfax , Pacific Palisades , Brentwood , Beverlywood , Topanga , Chatsworth , Palms , Westwood , West Hills , Westside Village , Woodland Hills , but through

2108-427: The Act a Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database where consumers can directly report harm or merely a risk of harm officially launched on March 11, 2011. The Act imposes or increases both fines and jail time penalties, and mandates coordination with the CPSC when effecting a manufacturer's product recall . The law: At the time of passage in 2008, manufacturers, both large and small, protested

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2176-471: The Administrative Procedure Act, gives the people a chance to participate in agency rulemaking . Publication of documents in the Federal Register also constitutes constructive notice , and its contents are judicially noticed . The United States Government Manual is published as a special edition of the Federal Register . Its focus is on programs and activities. Each daily issue of

2244-406: The CPSC added Rule 1109, known as the "Component Part Testing Rule", that allows U.S. importers to rely on suppliers to meet testing requirements, so long as “due care” is used to make sure that the supplier has in fact complied with requirements. Final product testing may actually be counterproductive if, for example, a solid lead button is tested as part of a larger product. When tested separately,

2312-470: The CPSC and referenced the book Fahrenheit 451 , where the destruction of books at government behest was a plot point. Olson also claims that there has never been any known case of a child receiving lead poisoning from a book. In his closing paragraph, Olson writes "... ours will be a poorer world...". The enactment of the CPSIA banned the sale of youth motorcycles and ATVs because of the lead content of battery terminals and tire valve stems. The law has

2380-412: The CPSC budget authorization from $ 80 million in 2008 to $ 136 million in 2014. It also increases staffing to at least 500 personnel by 2013. It is targeted mostly toward "children's products", which are defined as any consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. There are also new rules governing all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). It also affects any product that

2448-485: The CPSC in January 2009 until February 10, 2010. In December 2009, this stay of enforcement was further extended until February 10, 2011. In both cases, the CPSC cited a need to implement further rulemaking and to give manufacturers more time to comply. On October 9, 2011 CSPC passed final regulations requiring third-party safety testing for children's products. These new regulations go into effect 15 months after publication in

2516-517: The CPSC) issued on September 12, 2008 stated that these limits would be retroactively applied to products on retailer's shelves on the dates indicated. As of February 10, 2009, it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture for sale, distribute in commerce, or import any children's toy or childcare article that contains the phthalates DEHP , DBP , or BBP at levels higher than 0.1 percent. The legislation bans from any children's toy that can be put in

2584-526: The Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee , after defeating Chairman John Dingell in a 137–122 secret vote of House Democrats on November 20, 2008. Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming once described Waxman as being 'tougher than a boiled owl.' Waxman is proud of his "strong Jewish identity" and has drawn political conclusions from his exploration of the religion. "Judaism is about acting and doing

2652-578: The Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives in 1995, Waxman was a powerful figure in the House as chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment from 1979. In this role, he conducted investigations into a range of health and environmental issues, including universal health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage, AIDS, and air and water pollution. In 1994, Waxman forced

2720-624: The Republicans for ignoring their "constitutional responsibility" to conduct oversight over the government. On March 16, 2004, at Waxman's request, the Committee on Government Reform Minority Office published "Iraq on the Record, the Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq", a detailed and searchable collection of 237 specific misleading statements made by Bush Administration officials about

2788-400: The United States, specifically through updates to programs and policies including food safety, clean air, HIV research, and the social safety net. In Waxman's honor, Maher introduced a segment titled "The Baldy Awards", to recognize the achievements of Waxman and other "work horse" politicians. Articles Federal Register The Federal Register ( FR or sometimes Fed. Reg. )

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2856-423: The availability and cost of prescription drugs, and the right of communities to know about pollution levels. As an example of Waxman's thoughts regarding tobacco, on April 13, 2010, he requested that Major League Baseball ban smokeless tobacco in all its various forms - snuff , dipping tobacco , chewing tobacco , snus , etc. With the Democrats' victory in the 2006 midterm elections , Waxman became chairman of

2924-660: The ban does not apply to wearing apparel, but does apply to toy costumes, bibs, sleepwear. Notably in its distinction from the lead ruling of September 12, 2008, the phthalate ban will apply to articles manufactured on or after February 10, 2009. However, the decision was challenged by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Public Citizen in the New York Southern District Court and set aside by Judge Paul Gardephe on February 5, 2009. The legislation requires that every manufacturer of

2992-501: The button would fail, but when mixed together with the other inputs, the final total lead content may fall below the standard. Thus, unit testing would result in certifying the safety of a product which has unsafe components that could be swallowed by a child. Other manufacturers point out the problem of defining "children's products." Electronic products such as video games could be considered children's products, and are therefore subject to that testing. Electronics products contain lead as

3060-406: The chief executives of the seven major tobacco companies to swear under oath that nicotine was not addictive. Waxman's stated legislative priorities are health and environmental issues. These include universal health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage, tobacco, AIDS, air and water quality standards, pesticides, nursing home quality standards, women's health research and reproductive rights,

3128-631: The creation of a new 33rd Congressional District by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, in the November 2012 general election, Waxman won re-election in an area including his home community of Beverly Hills and stretching to Malibu and Pacific-coastal communities heading south, including Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Northwest San Pedro. Before

3196-519: The district, which had been re-numbered from the 19th to the 24th in a mid-decade redistricting. Waxman won the Democratic nomination for the district, and easily won the general election, as this was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic district. He was re-elected 17 times, with no substantive opposition. He faced no major-party opposition in 1986, and was completely unopposed in 2008. His district changed numbers four times in his tenure — from

3264-504: The end of the year, inventories will be tested. This will result in a negative change in valuation and a sharp reduction or termination of available credit. For public companies, it raises the issue of whether those officers are making false representations, introducing the specter of criminal liability under Sarbanes-Oxley. In early 2009, local media reported that children's clothes, books, toys, and other items were being removed from shelves at local stores - and in some of these cases even to

3332-457: The extremely short timelines for implementation, the failure to take into account manufacturing processes, and the failure to take into account the breadth of the impact. Congress passed this legislation in the wake of several high profile recalls in 2007 and 2008 of toys manufactured in China . Though many of these later turned out to be problems with design rather than manufacture, public pressure

3400-489: The following factors will be considered: See 15 USC 2052 See also 16 CFR 1200.2(a) For the CPSC's detailed analysis about the four factors, see 16 CFR 1200.2(c) The legislation reduces the limit of lead allowed in surface coatings or paint to 90 ppm (from the current limit of 600 ppm) effective on August 14, 2009. The legislation reduces the amount of total lead content in children's product substrates to: The Falvey Opinion (named for Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel for

3468-501: The items to be tracked. Manufacturers also point out that even if they attempted to comply, there are logistical problems. Companies with large varieties of products will have difficulty selecting several samples of every item. Even if they can, there are not enough testing facilities to handle the volume in time to meet the schedules. Manufacturers also note both the difficulty and the apparently contradictory mandate to perform unit testing. An apparel manufacturer, for example, might use

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3536-471: The lead or phthalate content, as they imply, but the fact that the products must be tested to make sure they comply. There was also confusion of what products need a GCC and which do not. They had not been tested because the items generally do not contain hazardous materials; CPSC had been slow to define some of the accreditation or testing criteria; some of the low volume, low value items were not economical to test; and lot tracking methods would not allow some of

3604-536: The logistics of managing the testing of large varieties of products. Large manufacturers tend to be very leveraged, and use their eligible inventory as their borrowing base. Because the inventory is going to become unsalable on February 10, 2009, there will be an abrupt change in their borrowing base. This raises the question of whether corporate officers can legitimately claim inventory in their current borrowing base. Because many of these loan agreements and all publicly traded companies require audited financial statements at

3672-618: The point of causing the entire store to close - in Wichita, Kansas , Ionia, Michigan , Conway, Arkansas , Goldsboro, North Carolina , Lincoln, Nebraska , New York City, New York (NYC), Rochester, New York , Marshall, Minnesota , Kailua, Hawaii , New Port Richey, Florida , and Tucson, Arizona . According to Walter Olson 's report 'The New Book Banning' in 'City Journal' (NYC), the CPSIA has problems because due to economics, some stores destroyed books, and some used book sellers removed many books. One small bookstore owner interviewee criticized

3740-411: The printed Federal Register is organized into four categories: Citations from the Federal Register are [volume] FR [page number] ([date]), e.g. , 71 FR 24924 (April 7, 2006). The final rules promulgated by a federal agency and published in the Federal Register are ultimately reorganized by topic or subject matter and re-published (or "codified") in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which

3808-413: The public changes to government requirements, policies, and guidance. Both proposed and final government rules are published in the Federal Register . A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (or "NPRM") typically requests public comment on a proposed rule and provides notice of any public meetings where a proposed rule will be discussed. The public comments are considered by the issuing government agency , and

3876-515: The retailer. They must be available to the CPSC during any inspection. Children's products are singled out for third party testing by this Act. A schedule for testing is found in Section 102(a)(3)(B) and shows: The third party testing requirement for lead content was originally set by the CPSIA at 600 ppm, but dropped to 300 ppm in August, 2009. However, these lead content testing requirements were stayed by

3944-696: The right thing, not simply believing in it or mindlessly following ritual," he said in a speech presented by the University of Southern California 's Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. Waxman said he applies Jewish ethical values to his congressional service. He further said that the "Jewish values" of "human rights, social justice, and equal opportunities ... are synonymous with American values," and that such values "are in my opinion closer to

4012-557: The rulemakings. To help federal agencies manage their dockets, the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) was launched in 2005 and is the agency side of regulations.gov. In April 2009, Citation Technologies created a free, searchable website for Federal Register articles dating from 1996 to the present. GovPulse.us, a finalist in the Sunlight Foundation's Apps for America 2, provided a Web 2.0 interface to

4080-400: The supply chain. As a result, much inventory that was legal prior to the signing of the law and was manufactured shortly thereafter were probably already on shelves as the deadlines approached. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Public Citizen apparently agreed that these products were already in distribution, but believed that manufacturers should still be held liable. The problem was not

4148-420: The text of a final rule along with a discussion of the comments is published in the Federal Register . Any agency proposing a rule in the Federal Register must provide contact information for people and organizations interested in making comments to the agencies and the agencies are required to address these concerns when it publishes its final rule on the subject. The notice and comment process, as outlined in

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4216-618: The text, either in paper or microfiche format. Outside the U.S., some major libraries may also carry the Federal Register . As part of the Federal E-Government eRulemaking Initiative, the web site Regulations.gov was established in 2003 to enable easy public access to agency dockets on rulemaking projects including the published Federal Register document. The public can use Regulations.gov to access entire rulemaking dockets from participating Federal agencies to include providing on-line comments directly to those responsible for drafting

4284-463: The threat posed by Iraq. It contains statements that were misleading based on what was known to the Administration at the time the statements were made. It does not include statements that appear mistaken only in hindsight. If a statement was an accurate reflection of U.S. intelligence at the time it was made, it was excluded even if it now appears erroneous. In 2006, Project On Government Oversight,

4352-509: The westside caused by Waxman's bill resulted in gridlock throughout Waxman's district. At the request of Los Angeles Mayor and LA Metro Board President Antonio Villaraigosa , Waxman agreed to lift the ban if a panel of five engineers found tunneling under the Miracle Mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard to be safe. In October 2005, the panel decided that tunneling was possible, and on December 16, Waxman responded by announcing he would introduce

4420-464: Was bright with sales and production booming." Waxman was accused of being involved with the Solyndra loan by Darrell Issa . Waxman responded, saying he had no involvement in the selection of the loan. Once hailed in the media as a "lobbyist's worst nightmare," Waxman became a successful and influential lobbyist when he opened his own firm after retiring from Congress. In 1993, a news clip of Waxman

4488-612: Was increased as the result of at least one case of lead poisoning and subsequent issues with tainted pet food and other products shipped from China. The legislation, HR 4040, was passed in July 2008 and signed into law by President Bush in August 2008. The first deadline came up in September 2008, and several major deadlines came up in February 2009. Manufacturers pointed out that many of the products to be impacted were already making their way through

4556-480: Was strongly critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment , which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act . Instead of this version, it was reported that many Democrats supported a version that would find "common ground." In 1985, Waxman sponsored a bill supported by affluent homeowners groups in his district to ban federal funding for

4624-428: Was used for the movie And The Band Played On , and in 2021, Waxman was praised by television host Bill Maher on his HBO Talk Show Series Real Time with Bill Maher . In discussing the concept of political "work horses", as compared to "show horses", Maher described Waxman's legislative achievements and emphasized that Waxman's tenacity and low public profile as a "work horse" allowed him to effect substantial change in

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