Our friends from ARRA have created an alert and a legislative contact page to help move forward a bill which would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to get the real facts and data regarding the safety and handling of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROV or side-by-side) before creating mandatory ROV regulations.
We are all about safety and feel that includes making sure any mandatory safety requirement is, in fact, safer than the starting point. To that end, NOHVCC supports these bills to ensure the facts are studied prior to any regulations. Please take a moment to use the ARRA take action website to send your Senators a message that you would like them to support this bill.
If you don't get the ARRA alerts, you may wish to consider signing up for them. We don't send on all of their information. If you get their alerts, but have not taken action for this bill, consider this a gentle reminder.
Here is the information from ARRA:
Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have introduced bipartisan companion legislation to H.R. 999 that would require the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study about the appropriateness of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) moving forward with its mandatory product standards for recreational off-highway vehicles (side-by-sides). Specifically, this study would determine the technical validity of CPSC’s proposed lateral stability and vehicle handling requirements; the number of ROV rollovers that would be prevented if the rule were adopted; whether there is a technical basis for the proposal to provide information on a vehicle’s rollover resistance on a progressive scale; and the effects on the utility of ROVs used by the U.S. military if the rule were adopted.
Send an e-mail urging your Senators to co-sponsor this common-sense legislation which will simply ensure that there is an adequate study of the impacts of CPSC’s proposed rule before it is too late.
Your efforts have paid off in the House as H.R. 999 is closing in on 50 co-sponsors. Your action today can get help get the ball rolling in the Senate.
Background:
On Oct. 29, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-2 to move forward on a proposed rule to impose a mandatory product standard for recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs), commonly referred to as side-by-sides. The CPSC voted to move forward with its industry-wide rule, even though the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) had recently approved a new voluntary standard developed over years of interaction between the industry, the CPSC and other stakeholders. A voluntary standard is the default approach under the statutes.
Perhaps worse, according to the CPSC staff’s briefing package and testimony, the proposed rule relies heavily on “beliefs” as the staff lacks data demonstrating that the proposed rule will actually achieve what the staff claims. In addition, the proposed rule applies standards developed for on-highway vehicles to off-highway vehicles, without demonstrating that those standards apply in off-highway environments. Given the CPSC’s admitted lack of supporting data and stated need for future testing, the proposed rule ignores the risk of unintended consequences for millions of Americans who enjoy ROVs throughout the country.
The proposed rule, if ultimately approved, would limit the ability of manufacturers to design vehicles to safely provide the level of performance that is expected by ROV enthusiasts, as state, regional and national enthusiast groups recently testified to the CPSC. The industry’s new voluntary standard for ROVs should be permitted the opportunity to prove effective, the same as the voluntary standards that govern almost all other products under the CPSC’s jurisdiction.
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