Citizen Health & Safety / Consumer Protection
Regulatory Accountability Act Threatens Essential Public Protections
Nov 22, 2011
For the past six decades, our nation's system of public protections has developed safeguards that protect us from health and safety threats. Now, however, the misleadingly titled Regulatory Accountability Act could turn this system on its head, allowing more special interest influence and inviting endless rounds of litigation.
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Congressional Budget Office Says Deregulation Will Not Create Jobs
Nov 18, 2011 by Jessica Randall
On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report that concludes that deregulation will not create jobs. The report is the latest piece of evidence that the ongoing congressional attacks on public protections are misguided, at best.
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Regulatory Accountability Act Would Undermine Crucial Protections for the American People
Nov 17, 2011 by Katherine McFate
Eliminating lead in children's toys. Requiring seatbelts in automobiles. Reducing coal dust in mines. Preventing unsafe drugs and foods from entering the marketplace. Outlawing predatory loan rates and lending practices. If the bill deliberately mislabeled the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) had been put in place in 1960, none of these protections for the American people could have been developed.
read in fullConfidence in Crib Safety: Are Regulatory Hoops and Delays Putting Babies at Risk?
Nov 8, 2011
Nowhere is safety more important than in children's toys and products. A number of regulatory agencies share responsibility for ensuring that children are not exposed to harmful toxins or dangerous products, but legislative gaps and procedural hoops have delayed needed protections. A new report by Clean and Healthy New York concludes that while some crib mattress manufacturers have made products less toxic, a "significant portion of the crib mattresses in the U.S. market contain one or more chemicals of concern" and may still pose risks to babies.
Updated: Possible Senate Shenanigans on the REINS Act
Nov 2, 2011 by Rick Melberth*
There are rumblings that as soon as today, the Senate GOP may begin to offer up the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (S. 299) as an amendment to, or a substitute for, bills moving to the Senate floor for a vote. Such a move would limit the public's ability to have a say on this damaging legislation.
read in fullAnalysis of the Regulatory Accountability Act: An Unjustified, Dangerous Overhaul of Federal Rulemaking Law
Sep 30, 2011
The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA), announced by Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) on Sept. 22, is a radical overhaul of the federal rulemaking process that would result in a system that allows powerful special interests to dominate. The bill would cast aside public health, worker safety, and environmental quality goals that are the basis of so many public protections and make estimated costs to businesses and the economy the most important consideration in rulemaking.
Congress Passes Bipartisan Bill to Amend the CPSIA
Aug 2, 2011 by Katie Greenhaw
Both chambers of Congress Aug. 1 approved legislation to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). The bill, H.R. 2715, moved through the House by a roll call vote of 421-2 before passing the Senate by voice vote. Unlike previous attempts to "fix" the CPSIA, this bill received bipartisan support.
read in fullSpending Bill Would Hide Consumer Safety Risks, Money in Politics
Jun 16, 2011 by Gavin Baker
Consumer product safety risks would be concealed and influence peddling in government contracting would remain out of public view under the provisions of the fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill approved today by the House Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee.
read in fullWatch What You Eat: A Groundbreaking Report on Food-Pathogen Combinations
May 4, 2011
Four months after President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a groundbreaking report from the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) has highlighted the ten food-pathogen combinations that are the greatest burden on public health.
Regulations Do Not Hinder U.S. Job Market, Paper Finds
Apr 19, 2011
Regulations designed to protect consumers, workers, and the environment do not have a negative impact on the job market and, in some cases, actually spur job creation, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The EPI paper, Regulation, Employment, and the Economy: Fears of job loss are overblown, shows that recent criticism surrounding regulations' impact on jobs is misguided and not reflective of economic data.
