Asserting the authority to oversee the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, have requested information from the Commission concerning the CPSC’s workload and its dealings with the public with regard to consumer complaints and FOIA requests. In a letter to Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle, the Committee has requested information such as:
- A list of rulemakings, petitions, applications, complaints, requests, and other items pending before the CPSC, including the length of time the matter has been pending and associated staff;
- The total number of reports of unsafe products received through saferproducts.gov from FY 2016-2019;
- Information pertaining to the number of investigations opened and closed by the Office of Compliance & Field Operations from FY 2016-2019;
- Details about involvement in voluntary standards development;
- A list of all FOIA requests from FY 2016-2019;
- A list of civil penalties, including lists of internal “referrals” for civil penalties; and
- A list of all matters from which CPSC leadership or staff has been recused from FY 2016-2019 and the reason for each recusal.
The Committee has requested a complete written response to these questions by March 22, 2019. We expect that an oversight or similar hearing will likely follow the CPSC’s response, and we will continue to monitor developments.