House Committee Reports Out “Do Not Flush” Labeling Legislation
On December 6, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce favorably reported out the WIPPES Act (H.R. 2964). The committee approved an amendment in the nature of the substitute (ANS) to the bill by voice vote and reported out the amended bill on a bipartisan recorded vote of 42-0.  The reporting out of the amended bill allows the legislation to move to the House floor for a debate and vote. A date for House consideration has yet to be determined.

Over the past weeks, CASA, along with the wipes industry and clean water stakeholders, worked with majority and minority committee staff to resolve questions about the legislation that were raised during the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce markup in November. The result of this effort was securing a bipartisan ANS that addressed committee staff concerns, while maintaining the underlying bill’s policy intent and reflection of California’s state labeling law. The successful markup reflects CASA’s continued leadership on this issue and continued positive collaboration with fellow stakeholders and congressional staff.

The ANS makes technical textual changes and amends the penalty conditions for violating the “Do Not Flush” label requirement to align with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) civil penalty statute. Importantly, the ANS makes the labeling requirement statutory rather than a directed rulemaking by FTC. As a result, should H.R. 2964 be enacted, the “Do Not Flush” labeling requirements would go into effect one year after the date of enactment and would not hinge upon FTC‘s ability to complete a federal rulemaking to enforce the labeling requirements.