The high-stakes debt ceiling debate and votes may have stolen all of the media attention this week, but another very critical piece of legislation: a revision of the burdensome, flawed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which called for costly environmental testing and safety certification of children’s books and other printed materials. On Monday, August 1st the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation (H.R. 2715) by an overwhelming vote of 421-2 to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). (The two recorded “Nay” votes were Reps. Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH; 9 Reps were recorded as “Not Voting.”) The bill not only provides much needed added flexibility and discretion to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to implement this law, it also excludes children’s books and paper-based printed materials from onerous third-party testing and certification requirements now in place for any and all products marketed to children under 12 years of age. The Senate followed suit that night and passed the House bill by voice vote, clearing the way for President Obama’s signature. The President is expected to sign H.R. 2715 into law in short order. This is a big win for the industry! While all children’s manufactured products received a measure of general relief from CPSIA, “ordinary books” (see legislative definition below) and “paper-based printed materials” were only one of two product categories to gain a FULL exclusion from the environmental and consumer regulation. (Youth ATV/bicycles was the other category.) We’ve spent two years before the Consumer Product Safety Commission and in the halls of Congress providing environmental data, explaining print manufacturing processes, and urging lawmakers to take action to exempt what we considered an unintentional consequence of the original law passed in 2008. Prior to the votes, Printing Industries issued a Key Vote Alert to all lawmakers. Even if your company does not print books or paper-based materials for the “12 years of age & under” market, the fact that books and paper-based printed materials were being regulated by yet another entity and had its environmental stewardship once again called into question – this time regarding the use of heavy metals. Achieving a total exclusion for books and paper-based printed materials from this massive environmental and consumer regulation goes a long way to reminding lawmakers that the printing & graphic communications industry’s products are sustainable, safe and leading edge when it comes to environmentally-sound manufacturing. Printing Industries of America extends a thank you to member companies who worked tirelessly alongside our Washington, DC team to advocate the industry’s position on Capitol Hill. We also extend a special thank you to our Congressional champions, bill sponsors Reps. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Senator MarkPryor (D-AR) and leadership and...

BIG news! BIG victory! A bipartisan, expedited compromise bill to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (H.R. 2715) has passed the House of Representatives this afternoon. This legislation EXCLUDES ORDINARY BOOKS & PAPER-BASED PRINTED MATERIALS from third-party testing and certification under CPSIA (books w/ “inherent play value” like plastic parts or stuffed animals would still be regulated). The vote passed by a vote of 421-2. We are now onward to the Senate! Prior to the vote, the limited debate included supportive-only floor speeches from Subcommittee Chairman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Subcommittee Ranking Member Butterfield (NC) (who also spoke on behalf of Rep. Ed Towns’ (D-NY) championing of the books exclusion provision), Representative Rehberg (R-MT – who spoke only to his pet issue of ATVs), and E&C Cmte Ranking Member Waxman (D-CA), who noted that it had been a “long, hard road” but did support this compromise legislation. The only other industry receiving an exclusion was the ATV/bikes industry, which had been the other signature industry lobbying for exclusion from this regulation. All other manufacturers and products received some relief from the general expansion of authority and discretion provided to CPSC to implement the law. The bill, which had originally been set for action following August recess, was expedited to address a recent controversial 3-2CPSC ruling that would have left current merchandise on shelves to be removed or discarded by August 14th. This legislation would make the lead levels prospective rather than retroactive as to not disrupt products currently in the stream of commerce. This is a BIG WIN! We now move onward to the Senate, where the bill up for a vote tonight does NOT have the exclusion for books but only for ATVs/bikes. We do not expect a conference committee to hammer out differences between the House and Senate on these bills. Instead, it’s our understanding that once the Senate passes its bill, the House may offer a substitute amendment and send back to the Senate to accept. The goal would be to keep the book exclusion intact. Given the strong bipartisan vote that just occurred we stand a good chance of it remaining in the final version. We will continue to lobby to the conclusion of this...