President Obama Nominates CPSC Heads, Increases Funding

Last week, President Obama announced an intent to nominate Inez Moore Tenenbaum as chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Robert S. Adler as a new commissioner of the CPSC. In addition, per the president’s budget, the CPSC will receive $107 million—a 71-percent increase in resources since fiscal year 2007. That number is almost three-quarters of the way to Obama’s goal of doubling CPSC’s funding.

Obama also plans to increase the number of commissioners at the CPSC to revitalize the agency’s health. For more than 15 years, it has operated with just three leaders, but Obama expressed intent to add two more posts this summer.

Inez Moore Tenenbaum of South Carolina currently serves as special counsel to the McNair Law Firm in the area of public school finance and throughout her career has been an advocate for children and families with extensive experience in administrative and regulatory matters. She has been recognized for her services on numerous task forces that provide oversight on children and family services in the state. Tenenbaum completed two terms as South Carolina’s State Superintendent of Education and ran for U.S. Senate in 2004.

Robert S. Adler is a professor of Legal Studies at the University of North Carolina and the Luther H. Hodges, Jr. Scholar in Law & Ethics at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine and has a breadth of experience in consumer product safety issues and an extensive knowledge of the CPSC. In addition to serving on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team, Adler co-authored the agency review report on the CPSC.

In other CPSC news, the commission has published a handbook for resale shops designed to help them understand how to comply with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Visit www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/thrift/thrguid.pdf.

In This Issue: Earnshaw’s annual report on the growth of the industry Understanding the grandparent demographic An update on the state of e-commerce Plus: Infant and toddler fashion Coming Next Month: Preschool properties that translate into consumer products success Retailers reveal the power of accessories The sports licensing report Plus: Character-based apparel