A. Consultant services in the revised budget totals $35,000. Twenty-thousand dollars is to be used for development of audiovisual materials. The additional $15,000 will be used for outreach, information and education. The $15,000 initially requested for intervention is being deleted. Services of consultants are required because federal agencies frequently do not have experts available when needed. In addition, agencies are increasingly requesting reimbursement for the services of their employees. Equally important is that frequently government technical advisors have not had experience in the private sector, thus limiting significantly the value of their advice. By utilizing experts under contract, USOCA can receive the benefit of advice from the private sector, coupled with a Federal perspective provided by staff reviewing personnel. Q. At the time that your budget request was prepared, you could not have anticipated the hiring freeze instituted by the President on January 20. By how much will this freeze decrease your pay supplemental request in FY 1981? A. The FY 1981 budget is based on the assumption that USOCA will have a vacancy rate equal to 7 full time positions. On October 1, 1980, all but 5 positions were filled. While the vacancy rate is presently 18 positions, we have initiated action to fill 11 Schedule C positions. Thus, we believe that the hiring freeze will have no significant affect on our original estimate of the funds needed for the pay supplemental, assuming there are no unforseen delays in these personnel actions. SES BONUSES Q. How much have you included in your budget for SES bonuses during FY 1982? A. In the January budget submission no funds were included for FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY Q. In your budget justification, you referred to the Office's work with the Interagency Working Group on Food and Agricultural Policy. What has been your involvement in the activities of this group? A. The Interagency Working Group on Food and Agriculture Policy was created to advise the President on food and agricultural policy issues. It was composed of representatives of the Department of Agriculture and other executive branch agencies and offices, including the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. This group provided analysis and recommendations on most major agricultural policy issues. OCA contributed to the analysis and provided its recommendations on these issues. Q. In your justification, you refer to your activities in connection with the regulatory treatment of reconstituted milk products and with food labeling. Would you explain why you chose to become involved in these areas and what you believe your contribution can be? A. In November, 1979, the Department of Agriculture issued a request for comments on a petition to change the regulatory treatment of reconstituted milk products under Federal milk order. USOCA urged USDA to hold a public hearing on the petition. In November, 1980, USDA published a preliminary impact statement on the proposed regulatory changes. USOCA reviewed the impact statement and again urged USDA to hold a public hearing on the issue. USOCA became involved in the issue because the proposed regulatory changes would allow the marketing of a lower-cost, equally nutritious alternative to fresh fluid milk. Future USOCA involvement in this issue will depend upon USDA's decision concerning whether to hold a public hearing on the petition. Food labeling has undergone only piecemeal change and no comprehensive review since 1938 when Congress passed major revisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). In the intervening 42 years, profound changes have taken place in the technologies of food production, processing and preservation; our economy and environment have altered radically; and consumers' ways of buying food, handling it, and even eating it are significantly different from those of the late 30's. In 1978, following several years of broad-based advocacy from consumer organizations and some elements of the food industry, the agencies which regulate food labeling undertook a full-scale review of food labeling policy. Because food labeling is a major concern of consumers, USOCA helped the three agencies USDA, FDA and FTC (the latter's involvement stems from its responsibility for the truthfulness of food advertising) plan and promote public participation in the review effort. Public participation in the food labeling proceeding reached extraordinary levels, with nearly 10,000 comments submitted by mail or delivered at a series of hearings around the country. The Director, USOCA, presided at several of these hearings and USOCA staff later took part in the analysis of comments and testimony. When development of a unified and rational approach to resolution of the issues raised in the hearing and comment process was stalled by disagreements among the three agencies, USOCA mediated informally and helped the agencies to develop a timetable which resulted in the publication in December 1979 of the Tentative Positions on Food Labeling in the Federal Register for comment. USOCA commented in detail on the tentative positions at that time and since has been cooperating with the FDA in its efforts to develop a food labeling format that would be (whatever its actual informational content) more acceptable to industry and consumers than the present format. The utility of food labels that meaning fully support HHS Secretary Schweiker's disease prevention and health promotion priorities is evidenced by the fact that diet is a factor in the diseases responsible for more than 60% of deaths in the U.S. Which, if any, changes in food label format and content are genuinely cost-beneficial in this context has to be determined. The USOCA will continue working to assure that the determination is made in full and accurate recognition of all the factors involved. PUBLICATIONS Q. How many different publications are now available as a result of your activities? A. The only publication currently prepared and mailed out by my office is Consumer Action Update, a twice-monthly newsletter reporting on Federal consumer activity such as legislation and regulation. The newsletter has approximately 6,000 subscribers Three additional who receive the publication free of charge. publications are also being sent out for the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs by the Consumer Information Center. They are the Consumer's Resource Handbook and People Power, which were published in FY 1980 and "Dear Consumer, a weekly consumer news column prepared by the USOCA staff which is sent to 6,000 consumer writers and editors. Q. What is the process for determining what types of publications to make available? A. We try to produce publications that fill a significant public need for information. For instance, periodic surveys of our newsletter readership give us a good idea of what type of information to include, what features would be useful, and what information "gaps" our newsletter can fill--information that is not readily available elsewhere. The Resource Handbook was developed partially in response to recommendations of the TARP Study--a landmark study of complaint handling in America initiated by my office when I was previously Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs-which showed a void in the what-to-do, where-to-go, how-to-do-it information consumers need, especially in trying to find the most appropriate government office for assistance or information. In planning and developing other publications, my staff has worked closely with other agencies in identifying consumer needs and information gaps from non-goverment sources. We then work with these agencies to write, publish and distribute the most timely, needed and useful publications possible. Q. Do you know who the principal recipients of your publications are are most sent out in response to individual requests or in bulk? A. Only single copies of the newsletter are generally distributed, although we do from time to time furnish additional copies for use at meetings and conferences. Our subscriber list is broken down by category, so we do know how many consumer groups, businesses, government offices, libraries, and so on, receive the publication. Bulk mailing and other publications are generally targeted at groups--or for meetings--which have a strong interest in the subject of a particular publication. We can determine this by working with other government offices, and consumer and other leaders to identify those who will really use the material we mail out. Whether most copies of a publication are distributed in bulk or individually depends on our methods of distribution, the scope of the publication and whether it is suitable for the general public or perhaps for more specialized groups, such as educators or community leaders. Since supplies of our few remaining publications are dwindling, we are able to honor fewer and fewer of the bulk requests we do receive. Q. Is there any charge either for the publication or for postage? A. There is presently no charge to the public for postage or for any publication sent out by or for the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION CONSUMER INFORMATION CENTER STATEMENT OF DAVID F. PETERSON, DIRECTOR, CONSUMER INFOR MATION CENTER ACCOMPANIED BY: TERESA N. NASIF, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CONSUMER INFORMATION CENTER WILLIAM B. EARLY, JR., DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET Senator GARN. Next we would like to invite up the Consumer Information Center. We are happy to welcome you before the subcommittee today. The Consumer Information Center was established within the General Services Administration by Executive Order on October 26, 1970, with the mission of encouraging Federal departments and agencies to develop and publish practical, relevant consumer information and increasing public awareness of and access to this information. The Center was designed to capitalize on the data generated by the Federal Government from the billions of dollars spent on research, evaluation, planning, regulations, and procurement. For a small fraction of these costs, this technical information can be translated into consumer publications and made available to the public. Since this information is gathered at taxpayers' expense, the Government has an obligation to make it available to the taxpayers in a form that they can use. The quarterly Consumer Information Catalog is the Center's primary awareness tool. It is a 16-page descriptive listing of more than 200 selective Federal publications judged to be of consumer interest. Approximately 90 percent of the publications are free of cost, or cost less than $2. This year the Center is requesting an increase of $156,000 in its budget for a total of $1,581,000. I would like to welcome you, Mr. Peterson, and your colleagues to this hearing. If you could confine your oral presentation to 5 minutes, we will place your complete statement in the record. [The statement follows:] (53) |