Under the Radar?

While the media has been fixated on the first days of the new administration and the rushing of the stimulus bill through the Congress, there is another change that has taken place much more quietly but not benignly.

In thrift stores all across the country, children's items are disappearing with little fanfare or explanation.

Well, I don't mind explaining it. A new law was passed last year after some problems with toys imported from China that had some toxic materials in them. The issue surely needed to be addressed.

The new regulations require that anything marketed to children under the age of 12 be tested and certified to be within the limits of the new guidelines for lead content.
The testing and certification are not practical for resellers and those who depend upon the secondary market for clothes and toys and books for their family will no longer be able to do so.

No one is in favor of children being poisoned with lead. But the cost benefit analysis is missing, and the wholesale destruction of books is at hand without a single case of a child being injured by them.

This is a law that has far reaching consequences, and because of the heavy penalties over the heads of resellers they have no choice except to no longer deal in children's items. The congress has once again made decisions for us and appears to have no interest in changing it, no matter the reprecussions upon the people who elected them.

Valerie Jacobsen is a homeschooling mom with a family business in used books and has been staying on top of this issue.

She wrote this earlier this week:
I called the SBA Office of Advocacy today and was told that CPSIA is a “huge
undertaking on many levels,” introduced with “poor timing.” I was encouraged
to contact the House and Senate Commerce Committees and “turn up the heat”
with “lots of calls.” I was told, “The more calls, the more influence.”

What we need to understand is that the Senate Commerce Committee is
restricting hearings on this.Henry Waxman, chairman of the Committee on
Energy & Commerce and Bobby Rush, chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce,
Trade, and Consumer Protection don’t want any reasonable amendment and are
refusing to allow any discussion.

They don’t want more hearings. They don’t want more talk. They want
compliance. Waxman and Rush are the original sponsors of CPSIA, so you can
see why they don’t want the damage they’ve caused to go on the record.

But we do!Make some calls–and make a difference. I’ve been writing, calling,
and talking about this for *weeks*, and I’ve only met one person who thinks
CPSIA is within the realm of reasonable legislation, one person who thinks
it’s okay for the CPSC to censor the canon of children’s literature, one
person who shrugged off the suggestion that some harm could be caused as
thrift stores discard books, blue jeans, and winter coats.

The vast majority of Americans,who know about CPSIA,can see that it’s junk
legislation, but many expect that it will dissolve into oblivion with no
effort.

That’s not the way it works. We need to TURN UP THE HEAT on Waxman and
Rush–and anyone who can turn up the heat on them. Here are some numbers to
call…. How does CPSIA affect you, your family, your business, or your
community? The only place I have had to hold more than 30 seconds was at the
White House.

CHANGE THAT! Flood them with calls.

Senate Commerce Committee 202-224-5115
Majority–202-224-0411
Minority–202-224-1251
(Becky Hooks takes care of this for the minority.)

Commerce committee members are listed at
http://commerce.senate.gov/members.htm

Call those senators!

House Commerce Committee (202) 225-2927

Commerce committee members are listed at
http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Click on “About the Committee” and then click on the “Membership” tab.

Call those representatives.

You can also call–
White House Comment Line 202-456-6213
Your State Senators (both)
Your Representative
Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy 202-205-6533
CPSIA Sponsor Henry Waxman 202-225-3976 or 323-651-1040
CPSIA Sponsor Bobby Rush 202-225-4372 or 773-224-6500
CPSC Small Business Ombudsman 888-531-9070 or sbo@...
Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship 202-224-5175
House Small Business 202-225-4038
House Committee Education & Labor 202-225-3725 (think: schools and
libraries)

Thank you!

Valerie

You can find Valerie on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/people/Valerie-Jacobsen/1319666953
or at her blog
http://www.bookroomblog.com.


This is a time when we must be vigiliant of our lawmakers. We are going to have to keep them aware of our displeasure when they enact laws that go against the people who put them into office. We are all busy, but we have an interest in making sure that they don't abuse the power we give them with our votes.