Sen. Pete Domenici, who is asking the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to adopt Snell's standards as mandatory, is no Washington D.C. rookie.

Domenici, R-New Mexico, is chairman of the Senate's powerful Budget Committee, with oversight of CPSC's funding. When Domenici speaks, bureaucrats listen.

Domenici, who assumed the committee chairmanship as a result of the Republican's sweep in to power last November, also is a recognized expert on federal budgeting and finance.

Legislation passed in 1994, the Children's Bicycle Helmet Safety Act, required the CPSC to adopt interim mandatory standards by March 15. The CPSC named seven different standards, including Snell's, as its interim standards.

The act also requires the CPSC to develop or adopt a national helmet standard within two years.

Domenici contends that a decision by the CPSC to permanently adopt Snell's standards, currently the most stringent in the industry, would save taxpayers money.

How? The CPSC could avoid the cost of developing its own standards and it would place enforcement of a national standard in the hands of a non-profit agency, Snell.

"This proven enforcement mechanism could allow the CPSC to reduce expenditures on enforcing standards. I encourage the commission to consider Snell's long history of Dedication to safety and take into account- its proven compliance program when it determines the final standards," Domenici said.

Such a decision would make ASTM and ANSI standards irrelevant. It also would require that all U.S. helmet manufacturers pay Snell to test and certify their helmets, a cost that would be passed on to consumers.

Snell has seen its market share decline over the past year as Bell Sports Inc. and others began using the ASTM standard to certify helmets. By using an ASTM standard, companies are cutting costs by eliminating the more expensive testing procedures required for Snell certification.

So why is a senator from New Mexico so interested in bicycle helmet standards?

Dr. Hal Fenner, president of the Snell Memorial Foundation, practices medicine in Hobbs, a small, southern New Mexico community best known for oil and high school football.

Fenner has been acquainted with Domenici for years. "I've known him for a long time, but we have not been close. I'm not what you would call a politician," Fenner said.

So call it constituent service. Or as Agnes Cecile Oczon, an aide to Domenici put it, 'It's much easier for someone from New Mexico to see the senator than it is for someone from outside the state.'

Last November, after Domenici had met with Fenner and several others from Snell, the senator sent a letter to the CPSC. The letter urged CPSC commissioners to immediately adopt Snell's standards as interim standards until the CPSC adopts its permanent, mandatory standards by 1997. He also urged the CPSC to make Snell's standards mandatory.

A CPSC official declined to comment on Domenici's letter or Congress's plans for the CPSC.

"I never comment or make predictions about what Congress is planning to do,' said Ken Giles, a CPSC public affairs officer. Currently, the CPSC has a $42 million budget and is responsible for overseeing enforcement of hundreds of federal regulations. The agency's entire enforcement budget is approximately $14 million. Last year, Snell spent more than $2.2 million just testing and certifying helmets.

Asked if there were sufficient funds to oversee independent testing of helmets and enforcement of guidelines, Giles said the CPSC has various mechanisms at its disposal.

If a helmet fails to meet mandatory standards, the CPSC can order a recall. It also can levy fines up to $1.25 million, although Giles acknowledges fines that steep are rare.

As Fenner points out, Snell is the only organization that requires, as a condition of certification, that manufacturers participate in aftermarket testing.

"Senator Domenici was very interested in the fact that we have the most stringent testing standards available and that we require aftermarket testing," Fenner said.

"If the CPSC adopts the Snell B-95 standard as the mandatory standard, they don't have to look after anything else. The senator also was impressed by the fact that we are a non-profit organization and that we support research,' he said.

As for cost, Fenner said manufacturers must pay Snell 30 or 35 cents for each Snell sticker, depending upon credit. The numbered stickers allow a manufacturer to track potentially defective helmets and the stickers self-destruct if removed. Manufacturers also must pay for helmets purchased at random from retailers and for the tests. Bell estimated that its total cost to participate in Snell's testing program came to about 63 cents per helmet

Snell has testing facilities in Sacramento, California, St James, New York and in Great Britain.

Copyright 1995 by Miller Freeman, Inc, Santa Fe, New Mexico. All rights reserved.

This page was last revised on: November 13, 2003.

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