1.State the administrative agency which controls the regulation.
Consumer Product Safety Commission. Explain why this agency and your proposed regulation interests you: Because I am a grandmother and my granddaughter fell out of her bassinet at one time and had to get stiches. I have never been in favor of bassinet and when I raised my sons, always put them in a crib to nap or sleep. I feel bassinets are ok to put a baby in for short periods of time, nap time and then you should watch them the whole time period, but not for long periods of time. Will this proposed regulation affect you or the business in which you are working? It wouldn’t affect me directly but any future grandchildren I have and it would make me feel more secure in knowing there were better safety measures in place to ensure less fatalities and injuries
2. Describe the proposal/change.
The proposal request several changes be put into place in the manufacturing of bassinets and/or cradles to make them safer. There are several proposals be request as list below:
Updated warnings;
Stability requirements;
Performance requirements for fabric-sided products to address entrapment incidents;
Performance requirements to limit the rocking/swinging angle to 20 degrees and the rest angle of certain rocking/swinging cradles to 5 degrees;
Show citation box requirement to eliminate active restraints;
Changes to scope and terminology;
Performance requirements specifying a mattress flatness angle of 5 degrees to address suffocation incidents on segmented mattresses
3. Write the public comment that you would submit to this proposal I believe that there should be better safety standards in place for bassinets and cradles to reduce fatalities and injuries of these products. I also feel there should be mandated standards established in making these products and if the standards are not complied with strict fines and penalties imposed. I feel this would reduce recall. This would also reduce profit loss to the manufactures due to recall and to the consumer who purchased them. Also it is not logical to purchase a bassinet or cradle first, when children grow out of them so quickly, and then consumers would have to purchase a Crib anyway. I also feel there should be educational materials provided to new parents upon discharge from the hospital regarding the pros and cons of purchasing a bassinet/cradle vs. a crib and the parents should sign off on the material at discharge. Overall, bassinets/cradles are not as safe as cribs.”
4.
Provide the"deadline" by which the public comment must be made.
January 2nd, 2013. 5. a)
What will you be legally entitled to do later in the promulgation process?
I would have the right to challenge the proposed rule.
b) Identify and explain the five legal theories you could use in an attempt to have administrative regulation declared invalid and overturned in court.
The first one that could be used is the arbitrary and capricious standard for challenging administrative agency rules; used to show decisions or rules were not based on sufficient facts. This theory only requires some proof or basis for the regulation. A second one would be the substantial evidence test which challenges the administrative agency on the grounds that the rule promulgated was not based on enough evidence. This theory requires that more convincing evidence exist in support of the regulation than against it. A third one would be that the regulation is unconstitutional. Another one would be that the agency did not comply with the APA requirements of notice, publication, and public comment or input. And the last one would be the Ultra Vires theory in which action is taken beyond the scope of authority. In dealing with federal agencies, action taken that is beyond the congressional authority given in the enabling statute.
c)Which of these challenges would be the best way to challenge the regulation you selected for this assignment if you wanted to have the regulation overturned and whyI would suggest using the arbitrary and capricious standard to have this regulation overturned. The reason for this would be because the regulations didn’t show any evidence that addressed the issue of incidents or injuries resulting from alterations of the product or unreasonable abuse/misuse of the product by a child or parent.