Comment from Kevin Maher

December 12, 2011 Troy Whitfield Lead Compliance Officer Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of the Secretary 4330 East West Highway, Room 820 Bethesda, MD 20814 Re: Docket No. CPSC-2011-0071 Dear Mr. Whitfield: The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) submits these comments on behalf of the lodging industry to express concerns with the recent decision by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to revise its definition of “unblockable drain” and to require retrofitting of affected existing pools by May 28, 2012. AH&LA, the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers, is uniquely positioned to comment on this topic because of the large number of pools our members operate. AH&LA urges the CPSC to nullify the September 28, 2011 vote and hold to its original interpretative rule and definition of an unblockable drain as determined in March, 2010. We are particularly troubled by the fact that this vote took place without allowing pool owners and operators nor state and local authorities an adequate opportunity to comment and explain to the commissioners why such a vote is so severely misguided. For the reasons outlined below, we respectfully submit that the revised rule, as voted on September 28, 2011, will jeopardize the safety of child and adult bathers in general, and provide no benefit - except to certain equipment manufacturers. We also request that the CPSC extend its comment period on this important matter. The implications to pool communities across the country are too important to rush and should be handled properly. In addition AH&LA requests that the CPSC delay implementation of enforcement of this change for one year. Per the issues raised by the CPSC, AH&LA submits the following comments in response. 1) Concern about the absence of due process o