While I am disappointed, I understand that the upcoming short session is just that, short. It's not meant to solve complex or complicated problems. The good folks in Salem mean to get in there and get out and get it all done (believe it when I see it!). What that means to me is whatever they do hear will be drafted and prioritized well before the session begins. Which is, uh, now. Two issues on my mind, and quite possibly yours:
Paid Family Leave: Not in '08, mamas. Disappointing but not unexpected. It went very well and very fast in 2007, but proved to be controversial - especially near the end when people started calling it a tax that required more votes. The good news is there are definitely plans to re-introduce it in the longer 2009 session.
Toy Safety: The good news is that safe toy legislation may well be addressed. Plenty of states are working on this issue since the federal government has done little more than throw some extra $$ at the Consumer Product Safety Commission - not that they can't use it! They were running a toy inspection unit with embarrassingly few resources and staff. The Progressive States Network (how I love them) said recently:
...the toxins regulation effort provides an exemplary model of the power of state-level politics to affect national and even international issues. “If the US government is going to sponsor irresponsible trade policies that allow dangerous products into the hands of our children,” said Barkin, “then it’s up to the states to stand up and say ‘This is irresponsible and something must be done about it.’"
I'm glad to hear that Oregon will be stepping up to the plate, and I'm more than interested to learn more about draft legislation that may already be in the works (anyone??). Stay tuned. As we learn more, we'll share it here. I've been keeping a lead-covered Thomas train for just the right moment...
According to the Progressive States Network, other states are already on top of this one:
In Washington State, Representative Mary Lou Dickerson plans to sponsor a bill
that will include most of the provisions from the Maine legislation, with the added provision that a regulatory
framework be put in place to allow the state to ban toxins as they are
discovered without requiring new legislation to specifically outlaw each new
toxin. The Washington bill is being introduced on the heels of a nationally
hailed report from the Washington Toxics
Coalition which tested over 12,000 different toys and found that 35 percent
contained lead, with over 50 percent of that number containing levels above the
600ppm level used as the federal recall standard for household paints.
Variations on the
Maine and Washington bills are expected to be introduced within the
coming months in at least five other states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and California. Most of the draft bills would include provisions
for including states within an “interstate clearing house” to coordinate
regulatory efforts with other state governments. The need for
concerted interstate action was underscored by the release of an influential
report by the Campaign for America’s Future this November documenting the widespread failure
of the federal government to properly inspect toys imported from China, where unfettered free trade agreements have resulted in
lax labor standards and lack of proper oversight.
Comments