Consumer Advocacy and Protection Act of 2026

S. 5281 — Consumer Advocacy and Protection Act of 2026 would amend the Consumer Product Safety Act's civil penalty provisions for violations of product safety standards. It raises the base maximum penalty for an individual violation from $100,000 to $250,000, removes the existing $15,000,000 cap on total penalties for a related series of violations, and expands the list of violation categories subject to these penalty provisions. It also revises how the Consumer Product Safety Commission adjusts penalty amounts for inflation each year, tying future increases to a cost-of-living formula based on the Consumer Price Index, and makes two minor technical wording corrections elsewhere in the same section.

The bill primarily affects the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which enforces these penalties, and manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products, who would face higher potential fines and no longer benefit from a cap on penalties for a series of related violations.

The bill was introduced in the Senate on August 6, 2026, by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) with four cosponsors, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. It would need to be approved by that committee, pass the full Senate, pass the House, and be signed by the President before becoming law; no further action has occurred yet.

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