On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Mary Boyle to serve as a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) by a vote of 50-48. For the first time since late October 2019, when then-Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle departed the agency, the Commission will have a full complement of five commissioners. And, most notably, for the first time since May 2018, the Democrats will hold a voting majority.     

As soon as Ms. Boyle is sworn in, she will join Democratic Commissioners Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. and Republicans Dana Baiocco and Peter Feldman. As we wrote last July when President Biden announced her nomination, Ms. Boyle is well known to the product safety community. She knows the inner-workings of the CPSC as well as anybody as she has served most recently as the agency’s Executive Director. She has also served as the agency’s acting General Counsel. Interestingly, Ms. Boyle is the second Executive Director of the agency recently nominated for the Commission, as President Obama nominated then-Executive Director Elliot Kaye to be Chairman.

Ms. Boyle’s term will run through the fall of 2025. Although many say that product safety is not political, partisanship does often rear its head in Commission deliberations regarding agency operations and priorities, rulemakings, and compliance and enforcement matters, such as the pursuit of civil penalties. We expect Ms. Boyle to be a smart legal thinker who is equally savvy about the business of the agency and a reliable Democratic vote, working in concert with Chairman Hoehn-Saric and Commissioner Trumka. 

We congratulate Ms. Boyle on her nominations and look forward to working with her office in the months and years ahead.