 Welcome to this public meeting of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Today we're here to consider a draft, notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a safety standard for clothing storage units. This proposed rules intended to address the risk of injury associated with furniture tip overs, particularly those involving children. As any caregiver knows, children will climb. This draft proposed rule aims to ensure the furniture we buy in our stores that we buy to store our clothing will not tip over onto small children on harming or killing them. This is not a theoretical problem that we're addressing between January 2000, December 2020. CPSC staff has identified 226 fatalities associated with clothing storage units tipping over. It's 85% children involved, children's death and 10% involved seniors. This proposed rule has been in the works for a long time and too many families have suffered the loss of children due to tip overs. Recently, I talked to one mother who lost a child 17 years ago as a result of a tip over and it's been fighting ever since to stop other families from suffering as she has. We owe it to her and other parents who have experienced loss in their children to move forward quickly. And I wanna thank the CPSC staff for their work in this draft rule proposed rulemaking and including for our informational briefing last month. During that briefing, we had many of our questions answered but in accordance with our decision making procedures, we will allow for questions for staff for grant proposals before us. We have several staff members present with us with two members of our staff who briefed us on this proposal in December. Dr. Kristen Talcott, Project Manager, Division of Human Factors, Director for Engineering Sciences, Meredith Kelch, Planning and Regulatory Engineers Division of the Office of General Counsel. Also in attendance are Mary Boyle, Executive Director, Whitney Ray, the Executive Director for Operations, Wayne Boniface, Director of Office of Hazard Identification and Production, Austin Schlick, General Counsel and Alberta Mills, the Commission Secretary. Each commissioner will have up to five minutes for questions. After the questions are complete, we will consider any amendments. Once again, I remind everybody that while it's perfectly permissible to question personal opinions on legal issues, it's not appropriate to discuss any advice given to us by the Office of General Counsel inside of the next session. The legal advice received should remain confidential. So going to questions for the staff, I don't have questions. Mr. Biaka, do you have questions or comments? I do not. Thank you. Mr. Feldman. No questions, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Mr. Trumpkin. I have no questions. Thank you. Hearing no questions, staff is excused and will begin consideration of the package before us. I will now entertain any amendments to the draft proposed rule as before us. I don't have any amendments. Mr. Biaka, any amendments? I do not. Thank you. Mr. Feldman, do you have any amendments? I do not. Thank you. Mr. Trumpkin, do you have amendments? I do. I have two and I will do them one at a time. The first is an amendment to reduce the risk of stockpiling CSUs. And the statute allows us to prohibit companies from stockpiling, which means that to substantially increase the import or manufacture of products between the promulgation date and the effective date of the rule. Statute gives us discretion to define companies base period of normal import or manufacture volume and then to determine what constitutes a significantly greater rate of import or manufacture compared to that normal volume. As drafted, the NPR allows each company to define its own base period by picking one year out of the last five when it had its highest import or manufacture volume and to increase that volume by 20% in the period between final rule and effective date. That would allow some companies to drastically increase import or manufacture in order to stockpile. The amendment selects some more reflective current import or manufacture volume by defining the base period as the one month out of the last 13 months with the median import or manufacture volume. And it changes the percentage increase that's allowed over that base period from 120% to 105% in each month between the final rule and the effective date. And I think this amendment will help reduce the risk of stockpiling products that could end up being sold long after the rule is supposed to be effective. Thank you, commissioner. Is there a second to the amendment? Second. Again. Thank you. Having heard a second, we will now move consideration of Commissioner Trump's amendments. The commissioners will ask questions or any comments they have to amend and then we'll come back to Commissioner Trump at the end. Each commissioner held up to five minutes around the rounds necessary. I'm going to start and recognize myself for five minutes. Commissioner Trump identified a provision that was ruled that may not provide the most appropriate protective path towards a safer market place. And we need to start a balance between what's compared to manufacturers but in a prioritizing that protects consumers in the end of the day. So Commissioner Trump, I believe that should be fleshed out in the current process and I support your amendment in order to do so. And I yield back the remainder of my time. Commissioner Biacco, do you have questions or comments? No questions. Commissioner Trump, thank you for presenting this amendment, which I must confess, it made me stop for a second. But after thinking about it and the overarching issue here that has been pending for just way too long, I support this amendment and we need to move forward. And as the chairman pointed out, we're parents who have been suffering for 17 years. This is enough. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Feldman. Thank you. And Commissioner Trump, I also want to thank you for introducing the amendment and raising the issue of stockpiling. And I agree that it makes sense right now to examine our anti-stockpiling provisions to make sure that they're robust and effective in preventing abuses. The last thing that we want is for firms to have an opportunity to go out and game the system. And I view the NPR here as an opportunity to learn from stakeholders on the issue about whether or not our proposed anti-stockpiling provision is sufficient or whether it's not. I'm comfortable supporting the amendment today. I want to keep an open mind on the issue and acknowledge that some version of this language may make sense in a final role and perhaps it might not if we ultimately get to that stage depending on what we learn from the comment. So with that, I'm prepared to vote. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. With that, are there any, there are no further questions for about Commissioner Trump's amendment? Commissioner Trump, did you have anything further to say on your amendment? No, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Now we're going to move to vote on the amendments. Commissioner Biacco. Yes, please. Commissioner Feldman. I vote yes. Thank you. Commissioner Trumka. I vote yes. And I vote yes as well. That is four yeses. The amendment on stockpiling by Commissioner Trumka is adopted. Now, Commissioner Trumka, you had a second amendment. Can you describe the amendment for three minutes and then we'll ask for a second? Thank you. Yes, the second amendment that I propose is to make the final effective 30 days after promulgation instead of 180 days. The NPR six month delay in becoming effective is the longest delay the statute allows without special justification. And it represents a significant delay in the safety benefits of the rule. Peter, that seems to very clearly mean that it could cost children's lives in that time period. So in the six months, what has historically happened and the data that staff has compiled shows that every six months between 2006 and 2019, the U.S. averaged about 2,800 CSU tip over injuries that sent people to the emergency room and 72% of those were children. And every six months between 2000 and 2020, there were an average of 5.4 deaths from CSU tip overs. 85% children and 10% senior citizens. So if we issue a final rule, but then allow manufacturers and importers a grace period of six months not to comply with it, we would be failing to protect those people from what we would have declared a known danger. It's, if a significant enough reason does exist to delay, I've opened to hearing that in the comment period and we'll closely review any comments that come back on that issue. Thank you, commissioner. Good, is there a second? Second. Thank you. Having heard a second, we'll now move consideration of commissioner Trump's amendment. Other commissioners may ask any questions or make comments with respective amendments and then we'll come back to commissioner Trump at the end. Each commissioner will have five minutes per round and we'll have multiple rounds if necessary. That's all, I'll recognize myself for five minutes. And once again, commissioner Trump, thank you for present this amendment and raising again important questions about our historical rulemaking practices. In our last decision on any question, whether we should default to lengthy periods for implementing rules intended to protect shelter from dangerous hazards. At the time, we all agreed to shorten the effective date for proposed rules under consideration that day. And as with the proposed rules we considered in December, this would be an important factor for us to look at in the climate proceeding. If there's sound reason to extend the time, then we should consider it, but our primary focus should be on the safety protection of consumers, especially children. So I'll support this amendment and I'll let you do the same and yield back to the remainder of your time. Commissioner Mbiaco. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Trunca, thanks again for another well-thought-out amendment. I think it's a very aggressive amendment. However, this is not a shocker. This issue is not gonna be a surprise to anyone. This has been around as I pointed out and we've all pointed out for a long, long time. There's been delay after delay. And for that reason, aggressive or otherwise, I'm gonna support it. Thank you, Commissioner Feldman. Thank you. Again, Commissioner Trunca for introducing this amendment. This issue of timing and effective dates is something that you've led on. And I think our previous rules on custom window coverings and magnets are stronger, I believe, because of these changes. In our rulemaking on custom window coverings, the commission shortened what would have been a two-year effective date, 280 days. In our rulemaking on magnets, we shortened the effective date to 30 days. For some context, our statute authorizes the commission to promulgate rules with effective dates that range from 30 days to up to 80 days or longer if warranted. But in the window coverings context, the shortened timeframe made sense because the 180 day period is the outer limit of the statutory range. In magnets, the shortened timeframe made sense because the commission wasn't seeking a re-engineering of the product. But here, with respect to CSUs, what the commission is proposing is a significant re-engineering to improve safety. It's an aggressive standard and it would involve the application of a new safety standard that doesn't exist in the US or any other major jurisdiction for that matter. And I am open to the concept of shortening the timeframe and I'm not opposed to revisiting the effective date in the final rule. That said, I wanna keep an open mind on the issue and review the comments first. If comments are received that strongly support moving forward with a truncated effective date, perhaps it's something that we can revisit if and when we get to promulgating a final rule. So thank you. Thank you for Mr. Feldman. I'll bring to other questions. Mr. Trump, do you have any comments before we go to vote? No, I appreciate the thoughtful consideration and Peter, I understand that point and I too look forward to seeing the comments on this to see how quickly companies can innovate in this space. Thank you, commissioner. With that, we'll move to a vote on the amendment. Commissioner Piacco. I vote yes on the amendment. Commissioner Feldman. I vote no on the amendment. Commissioner Trump. I vote yes. And I vote yes. So there are three yeses. One, no. Commissioner Trump gives amendments adopted. Are there any other amendments? Hearing no additional amendments, I move to approve the staff draft knows for making offers for CSU safety has amended and to direct publication and saving the federal register. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. For the final vote, commissioner Piacco, how do you vote? I vote yes. Commissioner Feldman. I vote yes. Mr. Trump. I vote yes. I vote yes as well. So there are four votes move forward with this package, the motion to approve the staff draft knows for making as amended passes and the proposed rulemaking as amended has been approved and should be published in the federal register. Now we have up to 10 minutes for commission for closing remarks. I'm going to claim my time, but short. So first of all, I want to thank all the commissioners, thank you all the staff for moving forward with this rulemaking proposal, which everybody has noted has taken far too long. Please, the commissioners voted to move forward with this proposed rulemaking. This proposed rule was closer to a marketplace that is safe for children and families. It gets a truly hidden dangers that furniture can tip over and crush small children. Kids are curious. Proposed rule acknowledges that. Consures that dressers, we hope that we get this, that dressers will not call on children of when they're climbing up and trying to see what's on top of a dresser. I'd like to also note that in two weeks, we're going to be kicking off our annual anchor campaign reminding Americans to anchor their furniture and television through the walls. While that's important advice remains so, the rulemaking proposal furniture can it should be designed to be safe. I will close by urging every segment of interested public to get comments. Today, we've taken an important step forward in the rulemaking process. We look forward to hearing from individual consumers, consumer advocacy organizations, industry and other interested parties. Commissioner Bianco, do you have a statement? Actually, I did, but you pretty much said everything I was going to say. So I'll second what you said. I will say that the anti-stockpile amendment, I think is incredibly important because everyone knows that we see a lot of products out there that should not be out there any longer after we implement rules and so forth. So again, I want to focus on and thank the staff and the commissioners for seeing this through and to give people and parents and kids and everyone out there a little bit more peace of mind that they should have had a long time ago. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. You didn't mean to take your- Don't need to repeat it. For rearranging things at some point. Mr. Feldman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start by thanking staff for the work that went into this proposed role. As anyone who has reviewed the voluminous materials or watched our December informational briefing in a test, there's just a lot of information and analysis regarding complex and technical issues that went into this. I'm comfortable moving forward today with the NPR, but I wanted to also acknowledge the efforts that are underway at ASTM in the relevant subcommittee. It is possible that stakeholders in the ASTM process will reach a consensus on a standard and I hope that's the case. But if not, I would encourage all stakeholders to work diligently to complete that work. If not, we have a backstop. As I said in December, this rulemaking has gone on for far too long and this is an issue that's been in front of the commission for too long. It's perhaps the longest ongoing and unresolved matter at the commission right now. I want to draw my colleague's attention to an article that came across my desk this morning. This is an Anne Lander's column from a 21st, 2002, involving a woman writing about the death of a child and seeking safety advice. This is an issue that we've known about for years and probably even longer than since 2002. That is why Commissioner Biakko and I, as one of the first things I did when I got to this agency was to sponsor an amendment to CPSC's fiscal year 2020 operating plan to proceed with a mandatory standard year to address CSU tip over hazards and that's also why I've been pushing to move this process along and I shared the frustration of many of the stakeholders that this matter remains today unresolved. Hopefully we're moving a step forward today to changing that. And while it's a restatement of our statute, it's important to remember that where voluntary standards failed to protect consumers or the commission has reason to believe that there isn't substantial compliance with a sufficiently strong standard, mandatory standards are appropriate. Thus, in the absence of such a standard, I believe it's important for the commission to move forward with this NPR and solicit stakeholder input and hopefully to reach a consensus on a final rule. Again, thank you to the chairman, my colleagues and staff for all their work on this. I look forward to seeing this process advance. Thank you, Commissioner, Commissioner Trump. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we made a good decision today to move forward with the NPR process and I again, I appreciate everyone's thoughtful consideration of the matter. There's work ahead and I look forward to us resolving it as quickly as possible. Thank you, Commissioner. Once again, thanks to all the staff and all of my fellow commissioners on that hard work on this package. This concludes today's decision meeting of the consumer product safety commission. And if I have a gavel, I'd gavel out. Thanks again, everybody, goodbye. Thank you.