TSCA Bill in March?

It's become somewhat of a parlor game to figure out when (assuming ever) Senator Lautenberg will reintroduce the newest version of his expected TSCA Reform bill. The assumption is that it will still be called the Kid Safe Chemical Act but that the last year of active information collection and meetings with various stakeholders will morph it into something rather different from the original. Still, we won't really know until it is reintroduced.

And when might that be?

The latest insight suggests that they are actively working on a new draft of the legislation, and that it will be introduced "in the near future." Not much help there since Lautenberg has been saying it was imminent since last February. The hold up seems to be timing and resources issues as Congress has been rather busy on health care reform. So don't expect the TSCA bill to show up until that is passed and there is a signing ceremony at the White House (assuming tomorrow's special election in Massachusetts doesn't shoot the health care bill down completely).

In any case, look for TSCA to show up only after health care (and maybe climate change and finance reform?). Additional hearings are still likely, perhaps one in each house of Congress, though it seems they wouldn't be decisive in shaping the bill as they will likely be shortly before its introduction. Again, assuming the health care bill is finished by early February, we're looking at sometime in February or even March for hearings.