CPSIA “people’s hearing” in D.C. April 1, and other protests

Coming up April 1, but not a joke: Since Henry Waxman and other CPSIA defenders on Capitol Hill are still stonewalling demands for hearings on the law’s catastrophic effects, some citizen-activists are preparing an alternative event for the nation’s capital in which persons from many affected constituencies will have a chance to tell their stories; there may also be “rally” activities, as well as events in other states for those who find it more convenient to protest there. Rick Woldenberg has details. (Update: rally now has its own site, AmendTheCpsia.com; Facebook event page]

In the powersports world, DealerNews reports that on March 19 — that’s this coming Thursday — “California motorcycle dealer and industry icon Malcolm Smith says he plans to sell kid’s ATVs and motorcycles to consumers” in defiance of the law. No word yet on whether or not PIRG or Public Citizen will try to have him arrested, but the penalties for willful violation of the law include five-year prison sentences as well as prohibitive fines. (More: Read Deputy Headmistress to learn more about Malcolm Smith and the history of kids’ dirtbiking and BMX (bicycle motocross) — Steve McQueen figures in it — as well as Sen. Klobuchar’s defense of the law)

cpsiawordcloud

Finally, those doing CPSIA activism may be interested in the colorful word-cloud poster/graphic that Whimsical Walney did up the other day.

“The price of disability law”

As we reported a while back, a New Jersey rheumatologist has been required to pay $400,000 to a deaf patient for refusing to provide (at his expense) a sign language interpreter for her. (Instead, he exchanged written notes with help from her family members; there is no allegation that she suffered any physical harm.) Now Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics covers the case and notes that it could have an unintended and unpleasant consequence: doctors are now given a financial incentive to find excuses to turn away deaf patients from their practice.

CPSIA on Metafilter

This will be widely read. For new visitors, here are our coverage of CPSIA and books, with many updates (but nothing changing the story’s essentials) since my City Journal article appeared last month; this site’s general CPSIA coverage; how Snopes dropped the ball (if in a hurry, skip to Feb. 15; Snopes has since silently removed some but not all of the misleading commentary of which readers complained); and coverage of the law’s appalling effects in such areas as thrift stores, youth motorcycles, ballpoint pens, and (so far with many of the worst effects postponed) toys, apparel, and libraries.

“Crumbled lives and shredded families”

The Philadelphia Inquirer and its columnist Daniel Rubin on the Luzerne County juvenile justice scandal (via Obbie). One detail I hadn’t known: after teenagers were sent on minor or dubious charges to the detention centers from which Judges Ciavarella and Conahan were getting kickbacks, their parents were made to pay the costs of their detention, their wages sometimes garnished when they fell behind.

March 15 roundup

  • “Intellectual Easter egg hunt”: great Michael Kinsley column on Wyeth v. Levine and FDA drug preemption [Washington Post]
  • Negligent for the Port Authority to let itself get bombed: “Jury Awards $5.46M to 1993 WTC Bomb Victim” [WINS, earlier]
  • “How following hospital quality measures can kill patients” [KevinMD]
  • Owner of Vancouver Sun suing over someone’s parody of the paper (though at least it drops the printer as a defendant) [Blog of Walker]
  • Court dismisses some counts in Billy Wolfe bullying suit against Fayetteville, Ark. schools [NW Arkansas Times, court records, earlier here and here]
  • Law bloggers were on this weeks ago, now Tenaha, Tex. cops’ use of forfeiture against motorists is developing into national story [Chicago Tribune, earlier here and here]
  • Can hostile blog posts about a plaintiff’s case be the basis for venue change? [IBLS]
  • Calls 911 because McDonald’s has run out of chicken nuggets [Lowering the Bar]

CPSIA: getting Washington’s attention

kidsdancearoundtree

Given that nearly every member of Congress voted for CPSIA last year, it’s not surprising that that body of lawmakers was slow to respond to reports of the law’s catastrophic consequences. It’s beginning to happen now, though. Republicans have been in the lead, the latest sign being a strong letter from ranking House Commerce minority members Reps. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) and Joe Barton (R-Calif.) asking for a hearing. The motorcycle/powersports issue has also kindled widespread interest from Hill members (example: Rep. Michael Simpson, R-Idaho).

On March 4 there was a welcome break in the ice on the Democratic side as well. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) sent a letter to the commissioners of the CPSC that, although cautiously worded, acknowledges many of the reports of calamitous consequences from around the country, something that his colleagues Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) have been unwilling to do (when not dismissing those reports as based on misinformed or uninformed rumor). Of course, there is famously no love lost between Dingell and Waxman, who ousted him as Commerce chair. But Dingell’s stand could give cover for other Democrats to join in heeding the public outcry as legitimate. That letter in turn has prompted many CPSIA critics to write Dingell letters in hopes of arming him with more facts and arguments on the law’s ill effects: see in particular Rick Woldenberg and Wacky Hermit.

Waxman, for his part, has announced his intent to hold no hearing on the law until the Obama Administration installs a new chair at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. That serves the multiple functions of 1) stalling (while more small enterprises are driven out of business and thus are neutralized as political threats); 2) reinforcing the impression that the ball is in someone else’s court on addressing the law’s harms; 3) assisting in orchestrating whatever hearing is eventually held, since he expects an ally of his own to be installed as CPSC chair (the ultimate nightmare for CPSIA critics in that job would be someone like Pamela Gilbert, the class action lawyer, former plaintiff’s-lawyer lobbyist, and longtime Litigation Lobby figure who ran the Obama transition effort for the agency).

The membership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, by the way, is listed here (hit “membership”; scroll to “Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection” to find the members most directly involved). The membership of the Senate Commerce Committee is listed here and that of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance here.

Some miscellaneous weekend reading about the law: John Markley, Bureaucrash; Michael Maletic (Weil Gotshal & Manges), Republican National Lawyers Association; Ed Driscoll, Pajamas Media.
Public domain graphic: Grandma’s Graphics, Ruth Mary Hallock.

Department of weird coincidences

Greenwich, Ct. lawyer/businessman Tom Gallagher, the main force pushing for the bad bill in the Connecticut legislature that would compel the Roman Catholic Church to submit its parishes to the control of layperson boards, also figured in these columns (though not by name) last year in the locally famous “wiffle ball field” controversy; he was the homeowner complaining about the property used by local kids to play wiffle ball. (Stamford Advocate via Fountain).

Claim: Hazing led to “unwise actions” two months later

“A man serving a five-year sentence for a fatal traffic accident in Kansas City has filed a lawsuit against Tulane fraternity Signa Alpha Mu, claiming hazing led him to take ‘unwise actions.’ … [The lawsuit] claims [Curtis] Mertensmeyer was hazed at Tulane two months before the incident [a fatal hit-run while speeding after drinking] and that he has developed post-traumatic stress disorder that caused him to ‘take unwise actions because of a breakdown in his decision-making process in stressful situations.'” [AP/Nola.com]