Bailout May Delay Funds for New Law

The proposed rescue of the financial system is holding up an infusion of funds that federal safety regulators say they need to implement a sweeping new consumer product safety law.

Although Congress has yet to give the bailout its blessing, lawmakers are already bracing for its impact on the federal budget and casting a cold eye on a request that has support from key members.

Officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission found out yesterday that they would not be getting an additional $30 million to help them carry out their new mandates.

Congress passed the final version of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act this summer with strong bipartisan support, and President Bush signed it into law on Aug. 14.

The measure, the most significant overhaul of the nation's product safety system in a generation, bolsters the power the CPSC and authorizes tens of millions of dollars in new funds. It also requires the CPSC to produce a slew of new regulations as well as guidance for manufacturers on how to comply with various aspects of the law by a series of deadlines, many of which fall within the next 11 months.

The issues the agency has to sort out involve highly technical but important details such as what methods can be used to test for lead, what components get tested and what information should be included in a new mandatory tracking label.

Two other new laws also order the agency to enforce a rule that portable gas cans must have child safety caps and to distribute $2 million in grants to encourage states to adopt certain pool and spa safety regulations.

Completing these tasks on time requires an additional $30 million, CPSC officials say, and not next year, but now.

"Without more funding, the agency can't do everything in its operating plan and carry out the requirements of the [new] laws," CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. Without an immediate cash infusion, she said, CPSC officials will be forced to "shift resources from ongoing safety projects to meet the deadlines imposed by Congress."

When acting CPSC chairwoman Nancy Nord and fellow commissioner Thomas Moore sent their $30 million request to Congress on Aug. 28, they had reason to be hopeful. Congress has been willing to give the CPSC money since last year's string of recalls of lead-tainted toys, which some lawmakers blamed on a CPSC weakened by years of budget cuts.

Last year, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs a Senate subcommittee that oversees funding for the CPSC, secured a 28 percent boost in the CPSC's budget for fiscal year 2008, bringing it to $80 million. The new product safety improvement act authorizes further yearly budget increases, with an initial jump to $118 million starting in 2010.