Awning Safety Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 6132, the Awning Safety Act. In 2019, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall of 270,000 motorized awnings that had caused six injuries and, tragically, one death.

These products are a known hazard to the public, and while I commend the CPSC for taking action in 2019, we must do more to ensure motorized awning products, regardless of brand or manufacturer, are safe.

The Awning Safety Act before us today would require the CPSC to create a mandatory safety standard for fixed and freestanding retractable awnings.

Currently, there is no standard, voluntary or mandatory, for these awnings, and injuries continue to mount.

Just last year, Dr. Michael Hnat, the father of a former Republican committee staffer, tragically died as a result of an incident involving a retractable awning.

We must act to ensure that other American families do not suffer a similar tragedy because of problems with retractable awnings.

I commend Representative Castor, the Democratic lead on this bill, and Congressman Balderson for their bipartisan work and leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6132, the Awning Safety Act.

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Mr. PALLONE. Castor), the Democratic sponsor of this bill and the ranking member of our Energy and Commerce's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. Obviously, we have to prevent more tragedies like what occurred. I ask unanimous support for this legislation.

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