Here is what was posted over at our house;
http://northeastbuggy.com/phpbb/viewtop ... fc128bcf59

In regards to who in Congress voted for this legislation - there is no liberal bias, despite Loco's usual rantings.

This was voted on in the Senate on March 6, 2008 (BEFORE the Dems had the large majority) - the vote was 79-14 - lots of republicans in there.

Voted in the House on July 30, 2008 (BEFORE the elections again) - vote tally 424-1. Only *1* congressperson voted against it!

Signed by President Bush on Aug 14th, 2008.

Spin it however you like, Loco - this baby had overwhelming conservative support.

Now, WHY did it have that support? Because the (not-so-liberal-at-the-time) government hates off-roaders?

Nope - because it was a slam-dunk bill to show how much your favorite senator or congressperson loves kids. A feather in their cap, notch in their belt, whatever. It was the "protect kids from all that Chinese lead paint" bill and no one who ever wanted to get re-elected ever again wanted to be against THAT.

Of course, there were/are many many unintended consequences of this - as pointed out in Eric's original post and a couple others.

What's the good news? People are responding, contacting their representatives, actually UTILIZING the democratic process!

What has this resulted in? There are currently 2 bills in the Senate seeking to delay implementation of this law and modify it. Both were introduced last week. You can look it up (I encourage this!)

We, and many others in a lot of other potentially affected industries/sports groups/anything that has to do with children are making a difference. Keep up the good work and open communication, and try to keep the hyperventilating and unfounded conjectures to yourself. Research, people!

-Mike

edit: Whoops! Forgot to include my source: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z ... 04040:@@@R

here is the latest from dealer news.com and the link
http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/Br ... oryId=2704



Kids' ATVs, Bikes Banned From SalePublish date: Feb 10, 2009
in the U.S. could face fines between $100,000 and $15 million starting today, Feb. 10, if they sell products designed for children under the age of 12 that do not meet the limits for lead content, lead paint and phthalate, a chemical sometimes used to increase the flexibility of plastic parts.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) applies to used, current and non-current ATVs, motorcycles, and snowmobiles and related products such as collectibles, apparel, parts and accessories.

The law affects some 13,000 franchised and non-franchised dealers, as well as OEMs, aftermarket manufacturers, distributors, and numbers of other businesses involved with children’s off-road machines, such as racetracks and race promoters. It applies to anyone involved in the so-called “stream of commerce” involved in bringing these products to market. And the question of liability surrounding injuries suffered by kids using prohibited equipment is a whole other set of issues.

The penalties for violation are stiff: up to $100,000 per violation and up to $15 million for repeated violations.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSA) is empowered to enforce the CPSIA, which was signed by President Bush last August.

The Motorcycle Industry Council has a petition pending for a stay of the sales prohibition until final relief is granted.

“The issue is still under review by the agency staff,” the CPSA told Dealernews today.

“They are very cautious about taking any action under this law that isn’t well founded and well researched,” says Paul Vitrano, general counsel for the MIC. “We believe that, upon review, CPSC will grant our petitions.”

“This is huge for us,” Vitrano added, “but it’s only a small part of the problem for them. But we have to continue urging the CPSC and Congress to grant us relief.”

The MIC is planning a big push at the Dealer Expo this week, he said. “We plan a full court press at Indianapolis.” There will be letters and other materials available at the MIC booth to make it easy for dealers and exhibitors to make their feelings known in Washington.

Read more about the issue at the Dealernews blog.

Breaking News

The bottom line here is that liberal eco-nazis and the CPSC hate motorsports, and they especially hate off-road motorsports because we OHV riders insist on interrupting their peaceful walks along the trails that our registration fees paid to construct. The lead issue is just a very easy premise to base a ban on. The CPSC has been itching to ban atvs for younger riders for some time, but, until this administration, have only been able to make it a recommendation. Soon it will be bans on larger OHVs due to "carbon emissions" or some other item on the liberal agenda. I think the current trend in political decision making will refresh the memories of voters who crossed party lines in the last election. I wouldn't call myself a staunch Republican, but I sure didn't vote fore these clowns.

F-16:

I don't disagree with you regarding the fringe groups out there trying to ban all motorsports (not just off-road, but boating and flying too! ), but I do dispute your laying the blame at the fault of this administration - if only in a fact-checking sort of way.

This all happened under Bush. All of it.

The corrections to the laws are happening under the Obama administration.

These are facts.

Feel how you will about the group of government yahoos we've got from both sides of the aisle, but it doesn't change the fact that this was poor legislation in the first place that vastly overstepped it's initial (and worthy) goal of keeping lead out of childrens' toys. Sadly these yahoos love to sign onto anything "for the children" regardless of whether or not it makes sense lest they be seen "anti-child".

Now, could we all go on a rant about the Bush administration pushing through this clear agenda laden law? Probably, but the original intent was not to ban motorsports (or any other children's activity), only to protect children with a very broad and poorly worded law.

Intent was good. Implementation was very bad.

Let's all keep it constructive and focus on getting the proper (and sensible) exemptions through like the ones that BIGE has been posting about.

Technically, there is no ban on these vehicles for children - just some VERY precautionary measures being taken by the industry to protect themselves from liability should the law be interpreted unfavorably against them. I applaud their proactiveness in getting the word out and the ear of congress and the CPSC so quickly.

This is the kind of activism that will keep our sport alive. Partisan blame-gaming just bogs us down in distraction.

-Mike (the obvious middle-child independent negotiator! )

as of feb. 10th I nor any other dealer sell atv, dirtbikes, or karts for under 12. so all the dealers are screwed until the lawyers fix it

In many cases, the degree of implimentation of legislation is dependant on the interpretation of it's verbiage by the current governing body. It may be legislation enacted under another administration, but I think it's a strange coincidence that the time is now right to push it in this direction. I hope you're right about this just being over-zealous politicians doing some "CYA", but I get a funny feeling that the time is right for fringe groups to push these little pet projects as "for the good of the people" initiatives. I've spent enough time in the military to see how quickly group-think hysteria can spread.

F-16:

I'm totally with you on that, especially the group-think hysteria. That's why I always try to jump in with the facts when I see things spinning out of control.

I appreciate how BIGE keeps updating us with links to what's actually happening. It inspired me to do research on my own.

As it turns out, the law itself just went into effect. When Bush signed it, there was a 180 day waiting period for estimating the impact to who/what would be affected by the law. There were a lot of local stories here about how small businesses would be affected and how they were lobbying to get exemptions or revisions to the law.

It's only because the law has not yet been revised and that 6 month delay (Aug-Feb) is over that every affected industry (toys, atvs, what-have-you) is in a panic and going into damage control mode - as they should be.

One of the bills in the Senate right now is to extend that 180 day delay to 1 year. Hopefully that will get through quickly and allow some breathing space for ours and other industries.

The other bill is the one that is rewriting the law with more sensible provisions in it. THIS is the one that we all should be contacting our representatives about and ensuring that we get our exemption for power sports vehicles.

If you haven't already, please do your part and either contact your representative directly or via one of he online petitions (directly or a personal non-form letter is better) and let yourself be heard. Don't be rude or blame-gaming, just state that that the CPSIC Act 2008 as it applies to power sport vehicles designed for children doesn't make any sense, harms family sport and activities, and is negatively affecting the American economy and jobs.

-Mike

I have not read the law the way it is written, and really would not try to as "legalese" tends to give me a migraine. But for those of you who are more knowledgable than I am, maybe you can answer a question for me. This was a law written to protect our children from lead. It has stated in several places that one of the issues is phtahlate, a chemical that is sometimes used to increase flexibility in plastics. Would that chemical be found in say, basketballs? How about pads used to protect football players (which have to go over a head, and have a better chance of coming in contact with a mouth) or for boys a cup? Or lead paint used on metal bats? Bicycles (bmx or just a regular bike my kid uses to ride to school)? Are we going to ban children from riding their bikes to school? We are taking away powersports, are we also taking away other sports as well? What are we leaving our children to do after school and on weekends other than join gangs and get into trouble? I am very curious about how far-reaching this law goes. If any of you know, please let me know...

Just to clarify... you mean machines that are designed or specifically marketed for kids under 12, correct? That's gotta bit a big market....

Sounds to me like knee-jerk legislation that wasn't really thought thru all the way. First image that came to mind is of a 10 year old trying to lick his engine.... I mean.. does it really require a law to tell them not to? I doubt this is what was intended.

I'll be watching this one close... our government in Canada tends to follow the US lawmakers alot.... fingers crossed