For decades, the Food and Drug Administration has had fewer than a dozen pages of instructions for how to regulate the millions of lipsticks, moisturizers and other cosmetics sold each year.

Now, a new bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, proposes to give the F.D.A. broader oversight, including the authority to force recalls of dangerous products.

The proposal has backing from the cosmetics industry and proponents of strengthening the agency’s oversight, including the Environmental Working Group, a left-leaning advocacy group.

“This bill is the best hope for meaningful cosmetics regulation in many years,” said Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group.

The bill reflects a new reality for manufacturers of personal care products, which face more pressure than ever to respond to consumer concerns.

Regulating cosmetics has not changed much since passage of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act in 1938. The F.D.A. can only ask companies to voluntarily recall products, and manufacturers are not legally required to disclose adverse health effects reported by consumers. (Many manufacturers say they do so anyway.)

“Most consumers don’t have much faith in voluntary company commitments,” Mr. Faber said. “The absence of a credible regulator has undermined consumer confidence in everyday products.”

Various efforts to get stronger legislation passed over the years have failed.

John Hurson, the executive vice president of government affairs at the Personal Care Products Council, an industry trade group, said of the new bill, “There were things that we liked more than others, but it is a compromise, and that’s a first.”

The F.D.A. expressed dismay last year at some proposals offered by trade organizations like Mr. Hurson’s and said it would drop negotiations with industry groups for new rules.

Under the new proposal, companies will be required to report “serious” adverse health effects they hear about from consumers — reactions to products that result in death, disfigurement or hospitalization, for example — within 15 business days. Companies must report all nonserious events — like rashes — in an annual report.

An F.D.A. spokesman declined to comment, saying that “as a matter of practice, F.D.A. does not comment on proposed or pending legislation.”

Also under the proposal, the F.D.A. would study five different chemicals for safety annually. The first ones would include chemicals that have already generated widespread consumer concern and backlash: propylparaben, a common cosmetic preservative; methylene glycol, a formaldehyde-releasing chemical previously used in some hair-straightening treatments; and two formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. The other would be lead acetate, an ingredient used in men’s hair dye.

“We do feel that it’s very important that the F.D.A.’s authority in this space bring peace of mind to consumers and at the same time reflect modern science and advancements,” said Darrel Jodrey, executive director of federal affairs at Johnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of health care products.