Post Fourth: Good News and Bad News

We hope that everyone had a safe Fourth, have had a few days off and are ready to return to the task of the CPSC and the proposed fireworks rule change.

We don’t want to start with bad news, so let’s start with the good. It seems that we were successful in pushing back the #BoomTax. On July 1^st, after President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit, the President agreed to not implement the tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports that included fireworks - for now.

That’s great news for our industry and our customers who won’t face the burden of figuring out how these tariffs effect their inventory, and the end user who won’t face the possibility of higher prices on products. It’s a short-term win, and maybe a long-term victory for everyone!

Now, the not so good news. We still face the prospect of rulemaking from the Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC).  You remember the rule - right?  The one that willeliminate powdered metalsin burst charges. It’s still out there; it is active; Commissioners are talking about it; and we are determined to defeat it.  

Last month on Capitol Hill, the United States Senate subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade and Consumer Protection held an oversight hearing on the CPSC, where all five commissioners were present, and the first question asked by the subcommittee Chairman Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) was about fireworks and the proposed NPR. 

Here is a transcript of the exchange:

Chairman Moran (To CPSC Acting Chair Buerkle): "Since coming to the Senate, I’ve had conversations about fireworks. 4^th of July is around the corner. I’ve been interested in rulemaking efforts, the standard determination, the so-called ear test that has been controversial and inconsistent in its application. Want to update on agency’s activities with respect to fireworks."

Buerkle: "Fireworks NPR is still up before the Commission. Unfortunately, we don’t have consensus among the 5 commissioners on how to proceed. Choices would be to bring it up and perhaps have it be defeated. Some feeling among Commissioners that it doesn’t address safety issues. Some of the issues in it…the platform, yes, but other aspects of the proposed rule do not. The issue for industry is the uncertainty as to how we will proceed. The question … I’ve talked about this with many Senators and the concern regarding the uncertainty about a way forward. We can bring it up; possibly it would be defeated – but then there would be certainty that nothing new would happen until we perhaps put forward another rule that would allow us to maybe more robustly address safety hazards."

Chairman Moran: "So is that decision pending on whether to bring it up?"

Buerkle: "Yes. We can bring it up at any time. The Commission can have a decisional, a public meeting to discuss it. Concern I’ve heard from some of my colleagues is that it really doesn’t affect safety, so why promulgate the rule?"

Chairman Moran: "It has interested me, just since yesterday, I’ve had two Senators reach out to me about this topic. Interest in this has grown. In the failure to bring up and pass or defeat that proposal, what is the status of industry regulation today?"

Buerkle: "Today, proposed rule is just that. It hasn’t been finalized, so status quo remains." 

  

So that’s the latest update, straight from the CPSC Commission’s testimony before the U.S. Senate. We agree with what Acting Chair Buerkle said regarding concern on the rule “that it really doesn’t affect safety, so why promulgate the rule?”  

As an industry, and the organization that represents importers, distributors and retailers, we have more work to do. The status quo, doesn’t work for us and that’s why we’ve been fighting so hard to #SaveOurFireworks. The NFA has been working hard to find a compromise that would eliminate the ear test and keep our fireworks colorful, joyful, functioning, and safe. We will fight to change the status quo and ensure that the change works for you.

The NFA has been reaching out to members of Congress. Recently, NFA President Don Lantis hosted U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-SD) to talk about the proposed NPR and they had a great discussion about fireworks and Mt. Rushmore.

To date, we have over 7,900 signatures on the petition to #SaveOurFireworks. If you haven’t signed your name to it you should. Then remind your customers that we still face this overburdensome rule that will devastate our industry and your business. Follow our social media platforms for updates on Facebook and Twitter and share them on your business feeds.  You can also check out our new website that was setup to quickly and easily keep you informed of legislative activities at www.saveourfireworks.comwww.saveourfireworks.com.

In August, members of Congress and many Senators will be back home visiting with constituents and voters. This is the time for you to visit with your elected representative and find out what he or she thinks about what you do for a living and if it is right for the CPSC to permanently change that with a vote.  

It’s great that we have shelved the #BoomTax and you should be happy about that.  However, we need to make sure that the CPSC’s proposed rule does not become a reality.  If it does, we might not even have many of our current products to sell, let alone having to worry about tariffs.