A Sample Meeting Memo

To:??????MDH

From:??Elmer

Date:??February 24, 2023

Re:??????Meeting with Wile E. Coyote on Wednesday, March 1 at 2 pm

________________________________________________________________

You are scheduled to meet with Wile E. Coyote at 2 pm on Wednesday, March 1. Mr. Coyote would like to discuss his experiences with the ACME Company.

Background

Mr. Coyote is a constituent who has had a number of negative experiences with various products that he purchased from the ACME Company. He maintains that the products were poorly designed and did not work as advertised. He also will tell you that the ACME Company has failed to provide adequate instructions in each instance. Mr. Coyote is involved in ongoing litigation with the ACME Company and is seeking damages on a number of causes of action including breach of warranty and for personal injuries.

What He Wants

Mr. Coyote would like you to pursue several courses of action. One, he would like your assistance in having the Oversight Committee conduct a hearing on ACME Company and he would like to testify at the hearing. I have explained to Mr. Coyote that you will not become involved in his litigation and he says he understands but he likely will still make the request.

Mr. Coyote will also ask you to support legislation (H.R. 1949) that Congressman Blanc (CA) has introduced that would require companies with more than $1 million in annual sales to include directions with any products sold in interstate commerce. The bill would also require the directions to be included on the company website and a statement on the packaging that the directions are available are on the company’s website; the packaging would have to contain the company’s website address as well. The bill would give the Consumer Safety Products Commission (CSPC) the authority to impose penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation and would also allow individuals to bring private causes of action in federal court to enforce the bill’s requirements.

Support and Opposition

The bill is strongly supported by a number of consumer groups, including the Coyote Preservation Association, which has 200 members in your district. It is opposed by the Road Runner Alliance as well as national and state business associations. The Road Runner Alliance also has about 200 members in the district.

I checked with the Oversight Committee and they confirmed that they are not going to conduct a hearing focused solely on the ACME Company at this time. However, they are considering doing a broad consumer product safety oversight hearing sometime this Congress. They indicated that they would be willing to meet with Mr. Coyote to hear his perspective but would likely not have any witnesses who are currently involved in ongoing litigation.

Similarly, the Energy and Commerce Committee shared with me that they do not plan to move the bill at this time. They are concerned about the bill’s penalty and private cause of action provisions. They did indicate a willingness to receive any comments you may have.

What You May Wish to Tell Mr. Coyote

You may wish to tell Mr. Coyote that you understand that the Oversight Committee is planning to conduct a hearing on consumer safety but that it will have a broader focus than the ACME Company. You may also want to share that the Committee does not plan to call any witnesses that are currently involved in litigation but that they are willing to meet with Mr. Coyote to receive his perspective.

You may also share that the Energy and Commerce Committee has shared with you that they have concerns with the bill’s provisions related to penalties and private causes of action and do not plan to move it soon.

One option you could take is to offer Mr. Coyote to send you a letter with his perspective on the bill that you could forward to the committees. If he presses you to cosponsor the bill, you could tell him that you share the Energy and Commerce Committee’s concerns about the bill’s penalty and private cause of action provisions and are additionally concerned about the impact of the bill on small businesses. However, given his interest, you are willing to keep an open mind as changes are made to bill during the legislative process.