And Then There Was One…CPSC Continues Operations with One Commissioner

It has been a turbulent time at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission), with several months of legal battles over President Trump’s termination, without cause, of the three Democratic commissioners, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, Mary Boyle, and Richard Trumka. As we previously discussed here, the commissioners were fired in May 2025 and then reinstated by a federal district court in June 2025. The Fourth Circuit upheld that decision, but the Supreme Court reversed, sending the matter back to the Fourth Circuit in July 2025, where the issue of the president’s authority to fire the CPSC commissioners without cause is still being litigated. Now, with the resignation of Republican Commissioner Douglas Dziak, only one commissioner remains: Acting Chairman Peter Feldman, also a Republican. How will the Commission operate now?

This is not the first time the Commission has faced loss of a quorum, but operations at CPSC will not grind to a halt. Congress has given the Commission the power to delegate authority. In a recent statement, Acting Chair Feldman explained the process:

Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, Congress expressly empowered the Commission to delegate its authorities to officers and employees of the agency to maintain continuity of operations. This statutory authority is broad, allowing the Commission to delegate all its powers – for example, enforcement, regulatory, and administrative functions – to the Chairman and agency staff, with the sole exception of certain subpoenas. With these delegations in place, CPSC anticipates no impediment to our work going forward, including with respect to investigations.

Before his departure, former Commissioner Dziak voted with Acting Chair Feldman to approve interim delegations to the acting chair of the Commission’s adjudicatory enforcement authorities, civil and criminal enforcement authorities, and regulatory authorities.

Notably, the delegations all make clear that if another commissioner is appointed, the acting chair must obtain the concurrence of that new commissioner before exercising the delegated authorities. However, there is no indication that President Trump plans to appoint any new commissioners to CPSC. Instead, the president proposed to reorganize CPSC and embed it under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As explained in the HHS FY 2026 Budget in Brief, this would result in transferring CPSC’s functions to the HHS Office of the Secretary, with the chief officer serving as the Assistant Secretary for Consumer Product Safety (ASCPS). This proposed reorganization and transfer would require revisions to the statutes governing CPSC, which would necessitate action by Congress. If and when a closely divided Congress may act remains unknown, as strong opposition to any such move is expected. But for now, CPSC is positioned to continue its work, and businesses should remain mindful of their consumer product safety obligations.