WASHINGTON / CATHERINE COLLINS : Fishy Doings on Capitol Hill May Be Good for Consumers

Congress is up to its gills in fish bills. And the fishing industry will soon get its first law requiring fish inspections.

To date, fish is the only flesh food not subject to a comprehensive, mandatory federal inspection program. Yet the Food and Drug Administration estimates that about 64,230 illnesses and 22 deaths result each year from contaminated seafood.

Congress has considered several bills in the past five years in the hopes that a better inspection process would provide better consumer protection and public health. How to accomplish that in these times of budget shortages is central to the debate.

There are three main issues. The first is a question of turf--which agency will run the program. The favored choices are the FDA, which operates the current program of random inspections, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the meat and poultry inspection programs.

The second issue is a definition of “adulteration” or contamination and the public health standard that should apply to fish that contains contaminants for which there are no regulations.

The third issue is whistle-blower protection. The meat and poultry industries, which have no whistle-blower protection, have lobbied hard against it for the fish industry too.

“Because of its mandate to protect public health, it is more appropriate that the FDA have the fish inspection program,” said Nancy Watzman, policy analyst at Public Citizen. “If the USDA, which has the mandate to promote agricultural products, were to get the fish inspection program it is possible that these two different mandates would conflict.”

But Lee J. Weddig, executive vice president of the National Fisheries Institute, likes the idea of the USDA controlling the program. “From an organization standpoint, the USDA just makes more sense,” he said. “And the seafood industry is very international. The Department of Agriculture is already in place with all our largest trading partners.”

The Senate passed a bill (SB 2924), which was sponsored by the majority leader, Sen. George Mitchell (D-Me.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Agriculture Committee. The Senate bill would make fish inspections part of the USDA program.

The leading House bill, now a compromise effort between the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and a bill sponsored by Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, would leave the program with the FDA and has stronger language regarding contamination and whistle-blower protection. A vote is expected at any time.

Although the fishing industry is split in its backing of the various legislation, there is support for regulation because it would provide a commercial advantage by bolstering public confidence in fish products--the fastest-growing sector of the food industry.

The Bush Administration and a dozen consumer groups, including the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen and Consumers Union, oppose the Mitchell bill and support the compromise bill in the House for both public health and budget reasons.

New Bill Aims to Improve Children’s TV

“That’s all folks.” That’s the message Congress is sending to the television broadcasting industry with the passage of the Children’s Television Act, which became law last week without a signature from President Bush.

The bill (HR 1677), introduced by Rep. John Bryant (D-Tex.), limits advertising during children’s programming to no more than 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays. It also gives the Federal Communications Commission, when reviewing applications for license renewal, the authority to consider whether a station has served the educational needs of children.

Action for Children’s Television, a public interest group, has reported that some stations were airing as much as 12 minutes of ads an hour during weekends and 14 minutes an hour during weekday programming.

“Programming for children should be designed to turn on their minds, not their sweet tooth or susceptibility for subtle advertising,” Bryant said. “Requiring broadcasters to consider the educational needs of children serves the public interest.”

In exchange for a license, a television operator must agree to meet certain FCC standards for programming. If he fails to meet the standards, he can lose the license through a hearing process when it comes up for renewal.

A bill similar to Bryant’s passed Congress in late 1988, but President Reagan allowed it to die after Congress adjourned. President Bush did not sign the new bill; his Administration did not support it either. However, the current bill had overwhelming bipartisan support and ACT, the Parent-Teacher Assn. and many education and religious organizations lobbied hard for it.

Local Bar Sorts Out Pension Law Mess

The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. appears to have succeeded where so many others have failed.

The lawyers’ group has sorted through the bewildering legalities governing the distribution and taxation of pensions and issued a report proposing a simplified version of the current rules.

The report describes the present law as “unduly complex, illogical as a matter of policy.” It suggests replacing the current labyrinth with two simple rules: everything that comes out of a pension plan is taxable, and everything that comes out can be rolled over into an IRA.

“If you have amended the law so that an individual can avoid paying tax by rolling over his investment, there is no policy reason to have very complex tax breaks that you now have,” said David E. Gordon, co-author of the report and a partner at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers.

Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.) has used the report as the basis for some portions of reform legislation (SB 2901) that has been co-sponsored by 10 of his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. Pryor’s bill, however, preserves some of the old special rules, such as those regarding taxation of employee stock option plans.

“We are very supportive, although the bill certainly includes some things we don’t like,” said James A. Klein, deputy executive director of the Assn. of Private Pension and Welfare Plans. “But the idea of reorienting Congress toward simpler pension laws is very important.”

While the bar association has not taken a stand on the other elements of Pryor’s bill, Gordon said that on the whole it is a step in the right direction.

“The end result of complexity is only noncompliance,” Gordon said. “This should be an area in which an IRS pamphlet can say it all.”