Supporters of the Lacey Act amendments of 2008 say the law was changed in an effort to help stanch global illegal logging while also protecting U.S. wood products manufacturers and jobs from unfair competition abroad; however, Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson Guitar, whose company is currently at the center of a Lacey investigation, supports changing Lacey yet again, saying in a recent opinion essay published by The Wall Street Journal that the current version of Lacey is an example of overcriminalization and federal overreach.
Supporters of the Lacey Act amendments of 2008 say the law was changed in an effort to help stanch global illegal logging while also protecting U.S. wood products manufacturers and jobs from unfair competition abroad; however, Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson Guitar, whose company is currently at the center of a Lacey investigation, supports changing Lacey yet again, saying in a recent opinion essay published by The Wall Street Journal that the current version of Lacey is an example of overcriminalization and federal overreach.
In the essay, Juszkiewicz (pronounced JUSS-kuh-witz) said his company was raided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) because it imported unfinished guitar fingerboards from India, presumably violating an Indian law that forbids exporting unfinished products. In Juszkiewicz's view, FWS "decided to enforce its own interpretation of Indian law … In effect, the agency is arguing that to be in compliance with the [Indian] law, Gibson must outsource the jobs of finishing craftsmen in Tennessee," he wrote.
To bolster his case, Juszkiewicz pointed out that his company has created more than 580 jobs in the last two years. He says the FWS raid "is an overreach of government authority and indicative of the kinds of burdens the federal government routinely imposes on growing businesses." He also characterizes the current version of Lacey as a "job killer."
Juszkiewicz took the opportunity to plug H.R. 3210: the Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act, or RELIEF Act, saying the bill "could reduce the chances of citizens accidentally running afoul of the Lacey law."
The Hardwood Federation, a lobbying group of which the NWFA is a part, along with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), American Forest & Paper Association and National Hardwood Lumber Association, all oppose H.R. 3210, on the grounds it would weaken Lacey enforcement, thereby putting the wood product industry's 900,000 jobs at risk. The Hardwood Federation recently called on those opposing the RELIEF Act to contact their legislators.
