After thirty-five years of taking a backseat to industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission may finally have the resources and legal tools necessary to, um, do something about consumer product safety. Understanding Government will soon be releasing an elephantine report on the agency, but that report has a new twist: a surprisingly strong bill re-authorizing the CPSC.

The Wall Street Journal’s Melanie Trotman reports that the bill establishes a public database of product-related injuries, bans lead and phthalates from children’s toys and establishes mandatory 3rd party toy testing. It also sets stricter standards for ATV vehicles, increases the maximum civil penalty on industry to $15 million and nearly doubles the agency’s budget by 2014.

The President still may veto the bill, but that’s unlikely. It’s a new day at CPSC headquarters in scenic Bethesda, Maryland .-MB

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