{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=3612A99B-B3AE-495B-B8D3-403F084E414E", "Klobuchar, Curtis Bipartisan Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act Passes Out of Committee", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "MN", "Amy Klobuchar", "K000367", "www.klobuchar.senate.gov", "klobuchar", "https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Curtis (R-UT) announced their legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the bipartisan Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee.\n\nIn addition to continuing to require all public pools to install safe drain covers that prevent suction entrapment and fund a national public education campaign to raise awareness about drowning prevention, this updated legislation expands the grant program at the Consumer Product Safety Commission to include tribes as eligible recipients, and modernizes the grant program\u2019s requirements to reflect the needs of pool owners and operators. The bill would also ensure the Consumer Product Safety Commission has a dedicated employee focused on drowning prevention.\n\n\u201cThis bipartisan legislation makes critical updates to the original law that incentivized states to enact pool safety laws,\u201d said Klobuchar. \u201cWorking together, there is so much we can do to make sure our pools are safe. We can stop entrapments. We can prevent drownings. We can save lives. This law has made a major difference nationwide and I am pleased it advanced with bipartisan support today.\u201d\n\n\u201cParents should be able to trust that when their kids jump into a pool, the structure of the pool itself doesn\u2019t pose any hazards,\u201d said Curtis. \u201cThis bipartisan bill builds on a proven law to prevent drownings and protect children. I\u2019m glad to see it advance out of committee and look forward to its passage by the full Senate.\u201d\n\n\"The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act is a perfect example of how sensible and sound policy can save lives. Since the passage of the legislation, entrapment deaths in public pools have ceased and have been substantially reduced in private pool settings,\u201d said Alissa Magrum, Executive Director of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. \u201cThis shows how well-designed legislation can have direct impacts on child safety and engineer our pool environments to be safer for all. The reauthorization not only ensures communities continue to be safe from this preventable tragedy, but also that water safety efforts will continue across the country to address the more than 4,000 fatal drownings the US experiences each year.\u201d\n\n\"Our daughter Abbey's hope was that no other child would experience a death or injury from a dangerous pool or spa. The VGB Act was the realization of that hope. We can all still do better with the reauthorization of this critical safety legislation. We unequivocally support this bill,\u201d said Scott and Katey Taylor, Founders of Abbey's Hope Charitable Foundation.\n\n\"The passage of the VGB Act, in a significant way, has helped to make some sense of the tragic death of my daughter, Graeme, and so many children whose lives have been lost in preventable drownings,\u201d said Nancy Baker, Mother of Virginia Graeme Baker and water safety advocate. \u201cThe reauthorization of the legislation also makes sense, as we have learned over the past 15 years what works well and what might be done even better to ensure water safety. I am fully supportive of the bill.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act has saved lives. Reauthorization of this Act allows for its proven safety standards to continue to do its good work, making pools and spas across the United States safer for those who use them,\u201d said William Ramos, Ph.D., American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council Aquatics Chair. \u201cThis legislative intervention creates actions and outcomes that those working in public health so often hope to see. It works!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe core purpose of the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance is to prioritize safety and health in pool and hot tub environments. We have been unwavering in our support for the reauthorization of the VGB Act, recognizing its significant impact on saving lives,\u201d said Sabeena Hickman, CAE, President & CEO of the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA). \u201cPHTA is proud to play a role in the VGB Act through the development of two industry safety standards that establish stringent requirements for suction outlet fitting assemblies and suction entrapment avoidance. By reauthorizing this legislation, we will ensure a substantial reduction in fatal drownings\u2014a cause that deserves universal backing.\u201d\n\nIn 2007, six-year-old daughter Abbey Taylor suffered a debilitating injury from a pool drain accident. After meeting with Abbey, Scott, and Abbey\u2019s mother Katey, Klobuchar led the successful efforts to pass the original Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which was signed into law in 2007, shortly before Abbey passed away in March 2008 after undergoing sixteen surgeries. Since the law\u2019s passage, there have been no drain entrapment deaths in any public pool within the country.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-17T09:52:05Z", "2026-09-17T09:53:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=3612A99B-B3AE-495B-B8D3-403F084E414E"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6234531067311764, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}