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119-s-5281119th CongressWALLET

Consumer Advocacy and Protection Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Senator Welch, Peter [D-VT]

Introduced

Summary

Raises civil penalties and ties them to inflation for Consumer Product Safety Act violations. The bill increases the maximum fine per violation, removes an aggregate cap on related-series penalties, and sets a formal annual CPI-based update process.

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  • Manufacturers and sellers: Face a higher per-violation maximum fine of $250,000 (up from $100,000). Removing the prior $15 million cap for related-series violations allows larger penalties for multi-violation conduct within a related series.
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): Must determine and publish the inflation-adjusted maximum penalty in the Federal Register within one year of enactment and no later than January 15 each year thereafter. The annual adjustment uses the CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) from October and is rounded to the nearest dollar. The Commission can skip an adjustment if Congress raised the penalty by more than the calculated increase in the prior 12 months.
  • Statutory wording fixes: Minor technical edits update wording for clarity, including changing "man" to "person" and correcting a punctuation error.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.

Higher safety fines for businesses

This bill would raise the maximum civil penalty for each Consumer Product Safety Act violation from $100,000 to $250,000. It would expand the listed covered violations to include subsections (11), (12), (15), and (16). It would remove the statutory $15,000,000 cap that limited penalties for any related series of violations. These changes would take effect upon enactment and could increase fines faced by manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers.

Annual inflation updates for fines

This bill would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to set and publish an inflation-adjusted maximum civil penalty for an individual violation within one year after enactment and by January 15 each year after. The annual increase would be the percent change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for October compared to the prior October, rounded to the nearest dollar. The Commission would not have to make the CPI adjustment in a year when Congress raised the civil penalty by more than the CPI amount in the prior 12 months.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Welch, Peter [D-VT]

VT • D

Cosponsors

  • Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]

    CT • D

    Sponsored 8/6/2026

  • Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM]

    NM • D

    Sponsored 8/6/2026

  • Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]

    MA • D

    Sponsored 8/6/2026

  • Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI]

    HI • D

    Sponsored 8/6/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
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