[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4934 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4934

To authorize the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a consumer 
 product safety rule to prevent injuries to users of vending machines.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2000

 Ms. Millender-McDonald (for herself, Mr. Lampson, and Ms. McCarthy of 
  Missouri) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a consumer 
 product safety rule to prevent injuries to users of vending machines.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Vending Machine Safety Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In June of 2000, a 4 year old O'Fallon, Missouri boy 
        had to be rescued after getting trapped inside a crane vending 
        machine. The child had crawled into the machine through the 
        trap door through which toys are dispensed. The child was freed 
        from the machine only after rescue workers pried the top of the 
        machine off.
            (2) In June of 2000, a second case of a child being trapped 
        inside the same trap door of a crane vending machine occurred 
        in Texas.
            (3) Since 1990, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has 
        received at least 43 reported incidents of individuals' use of 
        vending machines which has resulted in personal injury 
        primarily to the individuals' arms and hands.
            (4) 25 of the reported injuries were suffered by minors and 
        of those 25, 15 were suffered by children under the age of 10.
            (5) It is clear that there are defects in the design of the 
        vending machines which have led to the reported injuries. The 
        Consumer Product Safety Commission has been charged with 
        protecting the public from injuries resulting from the use of 
        products and it should be given authority over vending machines 
        to protect the public.

SEC. 3. VENDING MACHINE RULE.

    The Consumer Product Safety Commission shall issue a consumer 
product safety standard for the manufacture and installation of crane 
vending machines and any other machine which is designed to dispense a 
product. Such standard may also prescribe standards respecting labels 
or signs relating to the use of such machines to prevent injuries to 
individuals, including children, using the machines or taking action 
with respect to the machines which may result in personal injury. Such 
standard shall be issued under the Consumer Product Safety Act, except 
that the Commission may issue such standard in accordance with section 
553 of title 5, United States Code.
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