BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 994|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 994
Author: Morrow (R)
Amended: 6/11/02
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 1/15/02
AYES: Escutia, Ackerman, Haynes, Kuehl, Peace, Sher
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-1, 1/28/02
AYES: Alpert, Battin, Bowen, Escutia, Johnson, Karnette,
McPherson, Perata, Poochigian, Speier
NOES: Burton
SENATE FLOOR : 34-1, 1/30/02
AYES: Ackerman, Alpert, Battin, Bowen, Brulte, Chesbro,
Costa, Dunn, Escutia, Johannessen, Johnson, Karnette,
Knight, Kuehl, Machado, Margett, McClintock, McPherson,
Monteith, Morrow, Murray, Oller, Ortiz, Perata, Polanco,
Poochigian, Romero, Scott, Sher, Soto, Speier, Torlakson,
Vasconcellos, Vincent
NOES: Burton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 7/3/02 (Passed on Consent) - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : Liability: public skateboard parks
SOURCE : City of Laguna Hills
DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date of provisions
protecting public skateboard parks from liability for
CONTINUED
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injuries sustained by persons 14 years old or older, from
January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2008. It requires the
Judicial Council to submit a report to the Legislature that
compiles the annual reports on skateboarding-related
incidents and injuries at public skateboarding parks, on
March 1, 2007.
Assembly amendments make a clarifying change stating that
the provisions of the bill are not intended to abrogate or
limit any other legal rights, defenses, or immunities that
may otherwise be available at law.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires operators of skateboard
parks to prohibit a person who is not equipped with a
helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads from riding a skateboard
in such parks.
Existing law declares skateboarding at a facility that is
owned and/or operated by a public entity as a public
skateboard park a hazardous recreational activity under the
following circumstances:
1. If the person skateboarding is 14 years old or older.
2. The skateboarding activity is stunt, trick, or luge
skateboarding.
3. The skateboard park is on public property, as specified.
This provision sunsets on January 1, 2003.
The above provisions are not intended to abrogate or limit
any other legal rights, defenses or immunities that may
otherwise be available at law.
This bill would extend the sunset date to January 1, 2008.
Existing law requires local public agencies to maintain a
record of all known or reported injuries incurred by
skateboarders at a public skateboard park or facility built
on or after January 1, 1998, claims asserted and lawsuits
filed, and to file those records annually with the Judicial
Council. These provisions sunset on January 1, 2003.
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This bill would extend the sunset date of these provisions
to January 1, 2008 and require the Judicial Council to
submit a compiled report on the annual filings on March 1,
2007.
AB 1296 (Morrow), Chapter 573, Statutes of 1997, declared
skateboarding at a public skateboard park to be a hazardous
recreational activity for persons 14 years old or older.
It also required local public agencies operating skateboard
parks to maintain a record of injuries and incidents at
such parks, and to file such records with the Judicial
Council annually. AB 1296 contains a sunset date of
January 1, 2003, after which the protections provided by
statute to public skateboard parks would expire.
Government Code Section 831.7 confers a qualified immunity
upon public entities for injuries sustained by persons
participating in "hazardous recreational activity" on
public property which "creates a substantial (as
distinguished from a minor, trivial, or insignificant) risk
of injury." Besides skateboarding, other hazardous
recreational activities recognized under current law are
diving and boating, animal riding, archery, bicycle racing
or jumping, cross-country and downhill skiing, hang
gliding, kayaking, motorized vehicle racing or off-road
motorcycling, mountain bicycling, orienteering, pistol and
rifle shooting, rock climbing, surfing, trampolining, tree
climbing, tree rope swinging, water skiing, whitewater
rafting, and wind surfing.
Judicial Council Report on skateboarding injuries . As
required by AB 1296, the Judicial Council on March 1, 2001
reported the following facts regarding skateboarding at
public skateboard facilities and parks to the Legislature:
1. A total of 16 injury accidents for year 2000 were
reported by three cities and 10 injury accidents for
1999 by another city.
2. No claims were filed as a result of those injury
accidents, and no lawsuits were filed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04
Fund
Judicial Council
Report --------probably minor annual costs--------General
Local mandate ----unknown, probably not
significant------ General
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/8/02)
City of Laguna Hills (source)
Civil Justice Association of California
California Joint Powers Insurance Authority
League of California Cities, Orange County Division
Cities of Arcadia, Bellflower, Camarillo, Carlsbad, Chico,
Chino Hills, Claremont, Commerce, Concord, Culver City,
Duarte, Fairfield, Fountain Valley, Imperial, Laguna
Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Lompoc, Los Angeles,
Merced, Moreno Valley, Ojai, Palm Desert, Paramount,
Rolling Hills Estates, Sacramento, San Dimas, San Marcos,
Stockton, Visalia, Vista
Town of Apple Valley
California State Association of Counties
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The League of California Cities
adopted a resolution in 2001 supporting better protection
of public entities from liability for injuries resulting
from skateboarding on public property. The League reports
that there are 93 cities that have skateboard parks, and
nearly two dozen are in the process of constructing a
skateboard park.
"This legislation is required to assure the recreational
and community-building benefits of these parks continue to
be enjoyed by our constituents," states one of the
proponents. As originally introduced, this bill would have
lowered the age of skateboarders to whom qualified immunity
of the public agency operator of the skateboarding facility
would apply, and would make no distinction between
supervised and unsupervised parks.
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By extending the sunset date of AB 1296, this bill would
continue to provide public entities this qualified immunity
from liability for injuries sustained by persons 14 years
of age or older, while engaged in this hazardous
recreational activity. And by requiring that reports of
injury accidents continue to be maintained by the public
entities that own or operate public skateboard parks, and
that such reports be filed annually with the Judicial
Council, there will hopefully be collected sufficient data
on which further legislative action, if necessary, may be
based.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Aroner, Ashburn, Bates, Bogh,
Briggs, Bill Campbell, John Campbell, Canciamilla,
Cardenas, Cardoza, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn,
Corbett, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz, Dickerson, Dutra,
Firebaugh, Frommer, Goldberg, Havice, Hollingsworth,
Horton, Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe, Kelley, Koretz, La Suer,
Leach, Leonard, Leslie, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal,
Maddox, Matthews, Migden, Mountjoy, Nakano, Nation,
Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco,
Papan, Pavley, Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Runner, Salinas,
Shelley, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin,
Thomson, Vargas, Washington, Wayne, Wiggins, Wright,
Wyland, Wyman, Zettel, Wesson
RJG:sl 7/9/02 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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