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Etsy makers of children's items, along with the larger handmade movement, succeeded in getting the ear of Washington politicians and agencies by calling out for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) to be amended. An amendment now hangs in the balance, and we urge you to call your representatives. Cecilia Leibovitz, a.k.a. paperdreams, sent us this urgent message. Cecelia is not only the founder of craftsburykids.com, a shop specializing in unique handmade toys and gifts for children — she is also president of the Handmade Toy Alliance, a grassroots organization advocating for makers of small batch children's products. Republicans...

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a sham of a hearing today on the deleterious effects of the misguided Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The hearing is a sham because Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, has refused multiple requests for testimony from small-business owners, consumers or anybody other than government officials. Instead, the sole witness will be new Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Moore Tenenbaum, who started her job less than three months ago. When the legislation at issue is creating havoc among those being regulated, it's hardly constructive to hear only...

This story is actually a couple of days old but I wanted to write about it because it portrays a bureaucratic mindset that we would have to deal with if health care reform passes. The Bush era Congress passed the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act" in August of 2008. It was, as most legislation, an overreaction to the Chinese toy scare. It was designed to "require extensive testing of any toy, book, or item of clothing intended for kids under the age of 12." But ambitious bureaucrats have taken the bill and interpreted it to mean "used" toys as well....

Monday, March 16, 2009 Outrage of the Day: Waxman Drags Feet on Needed CPSIA Reform Today's Outrage of the Day to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), for his refusal to hold hearings on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), legislation adopted last year (see this blog's prior coverage here and here) that has forced charities and thrift shops to toss out large volumes of used clothing and other goods, caused used bookstores to toss out children's books published before 1985, halted sales of dirt bikes, handmade toys and other children's goods, and more.Congress adopted this law in apparent...

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK Motorsports industry blasted by new fed rule Tens of thousands of jobs at stake, activists worry Posted: February 20, 2009 Members of the motorsports industry are wondering why the government has adopted a rule virtually eliminating a key constituency – and possibly thousands of jobs – while at the same time developing a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that supporters say is intended to create and protect employment. At issue is a new federal regulation of lead that took effect just this month. The policy has virtually shut down the part of the motorsports industry that serves children...

The runaway train that is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is heading toward a collision next Tuesday. That's when new federal rules will make it illegal to sell some children's products, if Congress doesn't amend its awful handiwork. This week hundreds of people from the children's garment and publishing industries rallied in New York to protest the law and call for a "new Miracle on 34th Street" to save them from what some are calling National Bankruptcy Day. The uproar is over a law requiring that all products primarily intended for children under 12 must certify they have not...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission gives a preliminary OK to exempt some items from testing after complaints of hardship to thrift stores and sellers of handmade toys. By Alana Semuels January 7, 2009 The Consumer Product Safety Commission has given preliminary approval to changes in new lead-testing rules after complaints that the measures could have forced thrift stores and sellers of handmade toys to dispose of merchandise or even go out of business.