The Trump administration continues to bring with it changes in both the staff and politically appointed positions within the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). On Thursday and Friday, the three Democratic commissioners of the CPSC were fired, effective immediately.
The fired commissioners – Mary Boyle, Richard Trumka Jr. and former CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric – have already stated their intent to challenge their dismissals in court. Click here to read a statement from former CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric that summarizes events from his viewpoint.
The Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) allows the Commission to take actions requiring commissioner votes for only six months with a “quorum” of two commissioners – Acting Chairman Peter Feldman and Commissioner Doug Dziak at this point. We have not heard yet about any plans to appoint replacement commissioners, and it is unclear if the administration plans to do so.
Although it will take time to see how these changes may impact the direction, priorities and day-to-day operations of the agency, together they represent significant turnover that will certainly impact the operations of the agency at large. However, we do expect the CPSC Compliance Office will continue to move forward on recalls, investigations and the like, and prudent consumer product companies will not let down their guards when it comes to safety and compliance.
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