Bill to Protect Children from E-Cigarettes Advances in House

Legislation to protect children from e-cigarettes was approved by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade last month.  H.R. 3242, the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2015, directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to promulgate a rule requiring liquid nicotine containers to be designed with special packaging that is difficult for children under five years of age to open and access.

“Unfortunately, the body of evidence of childhood exposure to liquid nicotine is growing. These data compel the need for effective action to prevent these harmful exposures,” said CFA Legislative Director Rachel Weintraub.

With the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes, poison-control centers are reporting a sharp increase in the number of people sickened by exposure to the toxic, highly-concentrated nicotine used for vaping. Most of those affected are children, who may be attracted to the often brightly-colored liquid that can be marketed as having a sweet, candy-like flavor.

CFA, Consumers Union, and Kids In Danger issued a statement urging Congress, federal agencies, and other stakeholders to support the bill and protect children from the hazards of liquid nicotine.  “Only one teaspoon of this liquid nicotine can be fatal to a young child. That’s why a child-resistant packaging requirement, which the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act would include, is so important,” the groups said. “This bill also ensures that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can continue to work to address the hazards posed by liquid nicotine to children.”

A companion bill (S. 142) was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in April.

Congress Fails to Push for Strong Auto Safety Standards

Late last month, the Senate passed the DRIVE Act (H.R. 22), the multi-year, multi-billion dollar surface transportation reauthorization bill which, according to auto safety advocates, moves construction projects and industry interests forward, but highway and auto safety protections backwards.  CFA joined with other national public health and safety organizations, as well as families of victims of motor vehicle and motor carrier crashes, to issue a statement urging Congress to make essential changes and improvements to the DRIVE Act over the next three months.

“The legislation contains numerous provisions that pander to auto and trucking industries at the cost of more deaths and injuries on our streets and highways in the next six years,” the groups explained. “Many Senators, including Senators Nelson (D-FL), Blumenthal (D-CT), Markey (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Wicker (R-MS), Feinstein (D-CA) and Booker (D-NJ), stood with consumer and safety groups and families of crash victims and sponsored numerous amendments to strike anti-safety, special interest roll backs and add pro-safety proposals. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership thwarted consideration of nearly all of these safety-related provisions by blocking votes on all amendments except a few dealing with non-transportation issues.”

Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act (S. 1732), which claims to advance auto safety, but falls well short of what is needed, according CFA Director of Public Affairs Jack Gillis.

“It is incomprehensible that such a bill would surface when nearly every day for the past 18 months the press has been reporting hidden problems with safety equipment in our cars; when every week there are millions of cars being recalled for serious defects that kill and injure; and, when every month there is a another congressional hearing that reveals misbehavior by automakers and missteps by NHTSA in acting on defects,” Gillis said in a statement. “While we applaud the inclusion of Senator McCaskill’s amendment prohibiting rental cars from leaving the lot unless they have been repaired, [the Senate Commerce Committee] failed to provide the same protection to consumers purchasing used cars by not adopting Sen. Blumenthal’s amendment to protect used car buyers.”

Identity Theft Was 2014’s Fastest Growing Consumer Complaint

Identity theft topped the list of fastest growing complaints to state and local consumer protection agencies last year, according to the annual complaint survey released late last month by CFA and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators (NACPI). “Considering the epidemic of data breaches that we’ve been experiencing in the last year, it’s not surprising that more consumers are contacting state or local consumer agencies for help to resolve the problems that identity theft can cause,” said CFA Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy Susan Grant. “The solution to the problem isn’t to provide consumers with identity theft insurance, it’s to require better security to prevent their personal information from being stolen and fraudulently used.”

Thirty-seven consumer agencies from twenty-one states participated in the survey, which asked about the most common complaints they received in 2014, the fastest-growing complaints, the worst complaints, new kinds of consumer problems, agencies’ biggest achievements and challenges, and new laws that are needed to better protect consumers.

While identity theft was last year’s fastest growing complaint, the top three complaints most commonly made to state and local consumer agencies continued to involve auto-related problems, home improvement and construction, and credit and debt issues.  The year’s worst complaint was debt collection, with problems running the gamut from callers trying to get consumers to send money to satisfy loans that don’t really exist to abusive practices to collect debts that consumers legitimately owe.

The full report is available here.

CFPB Improves Complaint Database

Earlier this summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released nearly 8,000 consumer complaints to the public, representing a major improvement to its consumer complaint database.

The CFPB has handled more than 600,000 complaints since it first began accepting complaints in July 2011.  In June 2012 the Bureau launched its Consumer Complaint Database which includes the issue the consumer is complaining about and how the company handled the complaint.  The complaints concern problems with mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, debt collection, and other financial services.

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has again demonstrated its commitment to creating a fair financial marketplace,” said CFA’s Director of Financial Services Tom Feltner in a press statement.  “Ensuring that consumers can share their experiences and receive timely, accurate responses to their concerns will result in safer financial products and inform much-needed consumer protections.  We applaud the Bureau for launching this critical resource for consumers, financial services providers and regulators.”