New regs for Thursday: Baby chairs, cooking, auto insurance

Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new safety standards for baby chairs, efficiency rules for conventional cooking products, and a draft recovery plan for an endangered species.

Here’s what is happening:

Baby chairs: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is proposing new safety standards for children’s hook-on chairs that attach to tables.

These chairs hook on to tables, so infants and toddlers can eat with their families during dinner time. They typical cost about $40 to $80 a piece.

The CPSC is considering a new safety standard for hook-on chairs after receiving 89 complaints about these products over a 15-year-period, including 50 injuries and one death.

The public has 75 days to comment.

Auto insurance: The Department of the Treasury is looking into the affordability of consumer automobile insurance.

The Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is proposing to define what constitutes affordable auto insurance for minorities and low- to moderate-income people.

The public has 60 days to comment.

Endangered: The Fish and Wildlife Service is issuing a draft recovery plan for Sonoran pronghorns, which resemble antelopes.

The Sonoran pronghorn, which is indigenous to the southwestern United States, is currently listed on the endangered species list.

To remove the animal from the endangered species list, certain recovery objectives and criteria would have to first be met.

The public has 30 days to comment.

Cooking: The Department of Energy is moving forward with new energy conservation standards for conventional cooking products.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is issuing new test procedures for these cooking products.

The new rules go into effect in 30 days.