Child Safety

Please pay close attention to highlighted areas and areas that are typed in red.

Please cite sources

Please have comment ready for date that’s due

Please two complete full pages

Bureaucracy Assignment

Often, laws passed by Congress are merely frameworks - outlines telling how a government program is to be basically organized. The details are often left to an agency charged with carrying out Congress' vague wishes.

The amount of, frankly, legislative authority delegated by Congress to federal bureaucrats never ceases to amaze your professor although, in fairness, the complexity of many federal programs is far greater than a group of elected officials can be expected to master.

As you have read in your textbook, proposed rules are printed in the Federal Register, and comments from the public are generally invited. After receiving comments and either heeding or ignoring them, the final rule is published several months later.

First, watchthis short video (Links to an external site.) about the Federal Register.

Next, go to the online version of the Federal Register: http://www.federalregister.gov/ (Links to an external site.)

Look at a rule issued on July 8, 2019, called Safety Standard for Gates and Enclosures (Links to an external site.) .

For such a seemingly simple topic, it's a huge rule. I don't expect you to read the whole thing, but read the executive summary, and browse through a little so you know what it's about.

The purpose of publishing rules like this in the Federal Register is so that the public can have input. For your assignment this week, instead of a 2 -5-page essay, prepare a 2 - 5 page comment on the proposed rule as if you were sending it to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. (Yes, the deadline was in September. Pretend it hasn't passed yet for this assignment).

Submit in Word. Cite your sources.

Additional Resources

Wolters Kluwer has a good summary: https://lrus.wolterskluwer.com/news/products-liability-law-daily/baby-products-cpsc-proposes-safety-standard-for-children-s-gates-and-enclosures/83025/ (Links to an external site.)

Intertek has a pretty good summary: http://www.intertek.com/consumer/insight-bulletins/cpsc-proposes-16-cfr-1239/ (Links to an external site.)

Bureau Veritas has a summary: https://www.bureauveritas.com/home/about-us/our-business/cps/whats-new/bulletins/cpsc+votes+gates+enclosures+npr (Links to an external site.)

The Regulatory Review published a nice, short background piece about the Federal Register on its 75th birthday: https://www.theregreview.org/2010/07/20/another-regulatory-milestone-the-federal-register-act-turns-75/ (Links to an external site.)

The National Archives has a Federal Register Tutorial: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/tutorial/ (Links to an external site.)

It also has a few hints on how to prepare a comment on a proposed rule: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/tutorial/online-html.html#public