BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 105
S
AUTHOR: Yee
B
AMENDED: March 15, 2011
HEARING DATE: March 23, 2011
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CONSULTANT:
0
Orr/
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SUBJECT
Public safety: snow sport helmets
SUMMARY
Requires persons under 18 years of age to wear properly
fitted and fastened snow sport helmets while downhill
skiing or snowboarding. Establishes a penalty for skiers,
snowboarders, and/or their parent or legal guardian for
noncompliance.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing federal law:
Provides that the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to
issue permits for the use and occupancy of lands within the
National Forest System for nordic and alpine skiing
operations and purposes.
Existing state law:
Requires a person under 18 years of age to wear a properly
fitted and fastened bicycle helmet while operating a
bicycle, motorized bicycle, or riding upon a bicycle as a
passenger, upon the streets or any other public bicycle
path.
Existing law also regulates certain behavior related to
recreational activities and public safety, including among
other activities, skateboarding and recreational water use.
Continued---
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Establishes that every person who willfully commits a
trespass by knowingly skiing in an area or on a ski trail
which is closed to the public, and which has signs posted
indicating the closure, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Prohibits operators of skateboard parks from permitting any
person to ride a skateboard therein unless the person is
wearing specified protective equipment, including a helmet.
Establishes that any recreational skateboard facility owned
or operated by a local public agency that is not supervised
on a regular basis can be deemed in compliance with the
protective equipment requirement by: 1) adoption of a local
ordinance requiring any person riding a skateboard at the
facility to wear protective equipment; and, 2) posting
signs at the facility alerting riders of the requirement to
wear protective equipment, and stating that any person
failing to do so will be subject to citation.
This bill:
Prohibits persons under 18 years of age from participating
in the sport of downhill skiing or snowboarding, or from
riding upon a seat or device attached to snow skies or a
snowboard, without a properly fitted and fastened snow
sport helmet meeting specified standards.
Establishes a fine of twenty-five ($25) dollars for any
violation of this section. Dismisses charges against a
person for violating this provision, if the person alleges
in court under oath that this is their first charge for
violating this provision.
Requires ski resorts to post signs around the resort to
alert patrons about the helmet requirement for minors, and
the penalty for noncompliance. Also requires ski resorts to
provide written notice of the helmet requirement for minors
on all trail maps and resort websites.
Makes the parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated
minor jointly and severally liable with the minor for the
fine.
Exempts Nordic skiing (i.e. cross-country) from these
provisions.
Provides that the bill does not increase or decrease
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unspecified duties imposed under existing law.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author believes that by setting minimum standards for
children's ski safety, this measure will significantly
reduce instances of traumatic brain injury or death for a
vulnerable population. The author claims that data are
conclusive that helmets save lives and reduce severity of
head injuries. The author asserts that we do not allow
parental choice for car seats, seat belts or basic
vaccinations for children attending schools; nor should a
helmet for kids on ski slopes be optional.
California ski industry
California hosts an extensive recreational Nordic and
alpine skiing and snowboarding industry, with approximately
30 resorts drawing skiers and snowboarders from all over
the world every year. Nordic skiing is commonly referred to
as cross-country skiing, but encompasses all types of
skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the
ski. Conversely, alpine skiing is commonly referred to as
downhill skiing, but encompasses skiing with fixed-heel
bindings.
In November 2008, the Assembly Judiciary Committee held an
informational hearing on "Ski and Snowboard Health, Safety
and Liability Standards." The hearing concluded that the
ski industry has no uniform safety policies, procedures, or
signage, and the safety practices that are in place tend to
vary from location to location. Unlike most states with
major ski resorts, California has no ski safety statute, no
proactive oversight and no established ski and snowboard
safety standards.
Most, but not all, of California's ski resorts are located
on federal land, which subjects them to some oversight by
the U.S. Forest Service. Ski resorts located on federal
property are required to file annual operating or safety
plans with the U.S. Forest Service. Although the U.S.
Forest Service has contractual authority to enforce safety
improvements on land leased to ski resorts, with no
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established national safety standards, the Forest Service
takes a "hands-off" position on safety regulation.
Individuals testifying at the informational hearing
reported great difficulty in obtaining copies of the plans
from the U.S. Forest Service when they filed the required
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The California ski industry enjoys legal liability
protection through a common law doctrine of "assumed risk"
as well as contractual negligence waivers included on ski
pass purchase agreements. As a result of these
protections, ski resorts have limited exposure to legal
liability. There is no publicly accessible, statewide
repository of information on ski resort-related deaths and
injuries.
Risk of injury from skiing
According to the National Ski Areas Association, serious
injuries (paraplegics, serious head and other serious
injuries) occur at the rate of about 43.6 per year. In the
2007/2008 season, there were 41 serious injuries.
Thirty-two of these serious injuries were skiers and nine
were snowboarders. The rate of serious injury in 2007/2008
was 0.68 per million skier/snowboarder visits. According
to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study
in the journal, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, more
people are hurt snowboarding than any other outdoor
activity, accounting for a quarter of emergency room
visits. Almost 213,000 people were treated each year in
emergency departments for outdoor recreational injuries
from 2004 to 2005. Of those injured, about 109,000 (51.5
percent) were young people between the ages of 10 and 24.
Ski helmet usage
The purpose of the helmet is to partially absorb the force
of blunt trauma and dissipate the energy so that the head
alone does not sustain the total force of the blow. While
helmets do not decrease the risk of injury, they can
decrease the severity. Ski helmets are graded on their
ability to withstand frontal blunt and sharp impact,
retention strength, and resistance to roll off. American
standards indicate that those helmets with a rating of RS
98 from the Snell Memorial Foundation of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) have the highest level
of protection in all tested areas of impact.
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Helmet utilization in the U.S. is increasing by about five
percent per year for the last several years. In the 2004/05
season, the overall usage of helmets among the general
public (skiers and snowboarders) was estimated to be 33.2
percent. It was higher among children 9 and under at 66
percent; it was next highest among those over 65, at 46
percent. Only 19 percent of entry level skiers and
snowboarders used a helmet versus advanced/expert at 45
percent. Among males, 35.2 percent used a helmet, and 30.4
percent of females wore a helmet. The National Ski Areas
Association says that 48 percent of skiers and snowboarders
in the US wore helmets in the 2008-09 season.
In January 1999, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) released a report on an investigational
study of skiing- and snowboarding-related head and neck
injuries, in an attempt to determine whether helmets would
have prevented or reduced the severity of the injuries they
studied. They note that head injuries account for 14
percent of skiing and snowboarding accidents, as well as 56
percent of related deaths. Falls were the leading cause of
head and neck injuries, when individuals either hit a
surface (48 percent) or hit their ski equipment (21
percent). About two-thirds of the falls to a surface
resulted in injuries to parts of the head which were
identified as addressable by use of a helmet. Overall, the
study indicated that 44 percent of head injuries, an
estimated 7,700 injuries annually, could be addressed by
helmet use. The study also showed that for children under
15 years of age, 53 percent of head injuries (approximately
2,600 of the 4,950 head injuries annually) are addressable
by use of a helmet.
An article in the LA Times by Bill Becher titled "Headway
on the Slopes" published in February 2006 quoted Dr. Stuart
Levy of Denver whose research shows that ski helmets can
cut the rate of head injuries by two thirds and the risk of
ski or snowboard fatalities by 80 percent. Brent Hagel of
the University of Calgary studied crashes at 19 Canadian
ski resorts and concluded that helmets reduced the risk of
serious head injury to skiers and snowboarders by 56
percent.
US CPSC noted that studies have shown safety helmets for
motorcycling and bicycling provide effective protection
against head and brain injuries, including severe brain
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injuries. They believe it is reasonable to suggest from
the bicycling and motorcycling experience that a skiing
helmet that meets a suitable standard could provide
effective protection against head and brain injuries in
many types of skiing-related incidents involving head
impact. Based on this information as well as their
investigational study, they conclude that the use of
helmets will reduce the risk of head injury associated with
skiing and snowboarding.
Traumatic brain injury
According to the CDC's National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control, the leading causes of traumatic
brain injury (TBI) are: falls (35.2 percent), motor vehicle
- traffic (17.3 percent); struck by/against events (16.5
percent); and assaults (10 percent). Falls are the leading
cause of non-fatal injuries for all children ages 0 to 19.
Every day, approximately 8,000 children are treated in U.S.
emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. This adds up to
almost 2.8 million children each year.
In January 2010, the Senate Committee on Health convened a
hearing on traumatic brain injury. The California Brain
Injury Association testified that 220,000 Californians
sustain brain injuries each year, not including
144,000-342,000 sports-related concussions estimated to
occur in the state each year. Approximately 52,250 children
sustain a brain injury and or are hospitalized with a brain
injury each year. Disease management for brain injury
includes emergency care, intensive care, hospital-based
rehabilitation, non-hospital based rehabilitation, and
vocational rehabilitation. The nationally annualized direct
costs of TBI have been estimated to range between $51.2 and
$60 billion in the U.S. Cost of care for a single disabled
person with brain injury over a lifetime can range from $1
to $30 million. The true extent of the economic impact to
the state cannot be realized because the state has no
epidemiology and surveillance program that thoroughly
tracks brain injury.
Ski helmet laws in other locales
Several other states have general ski safety laws,
including Alaska, Arizona, Colorado and Michigan. New
Jersey is currently considering legislation to mandate ski
helmets for minors. Bills have also been introduced in New
York to require skiers under 15 to wear a helmet.
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Lawmakers in Quebec also considered requiring helmet use
after actress Natasha Richardson died after a fall in 2009,
but so far no legislation has been introduced.
Related bills
SB 278 (Gaines) requires ski resorts to prepare and make
public an annual safety plan, create monthly reports
describing incidents resulting in fatalities occurring on
the ski resort property, and establish policies for signage
indicating ski boundaries and safety information, and
safety padding for lift towers and other equipment near ski
runs. This bill is set for hearing in Senate Health
Committee April 6, 2011.
AB 695 (Norby) would exempt from mandatory helmet
requirements those motorcycle, motor-driven cycle or
motorized bicycle drivers who are 18 years of age or older
and have completed specified requirements. Pending in
Assembly Transportation Committee.
Prior legislation
SB 880 (Yee) Chapter 278, Statutes of 2010 was nearly
identical to SB 105. SB 880 included a provision making the
bill contingent on the enactment of AB 1652 (Jones). AB
1652 was vetoed by the governor, which then voided SB 880's
chaptered status.
AB 1652 (Jones) of 2010 is nearly identical to SB 278 and
would have required ski resorts to prepare an annual safety
plan, make the safety plan available to the public, and
make available to the public a monthly report with
specified details about any fatal incidents at the resort
which resulted from a recreational activity. The bill would
also require a ski resort to establish its own signage
policy and its own safety padding policy
for the resort. Vetoed.
AB 990 (Jones) of 2009 would have required ski resorts to
prepare and file an annual safety report with Division of
Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and to report to the
DOSH on a quarterly basis any serious injuries or
fatalities involving patrons at the ski resort. Held in
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 284 (Cox) of 2009 would have required DOSH to utilize
the most current safety standards when inspecting aerial
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passenger tramways operated at ski resorts. The bill would
have also required ski resorts to file an annual safety
plan with the DOSH, make the safety plan available on
demand, report to DOSH, within 24 hours, any fatalities
involving patrons at the resort, and standardize safety
signage and equipment padding in use at the resort. The
bill died in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations
Committee.
SB 1924 (O'Connell) Chapter 475, Statutes of 2002, requires
that persons under 18 years of age wear a helmet while
operating a nonmotorized scooter or skateboard or riding
upon a nonmotorized scooter or skateboard as a passenger.
AB 2218 (Keeley) of 2002 would have created the California
Ski Safety Task Force, required the Task Force to adopt
uniform sign standards for adoption by California ski
areas, and required the Task Force to make recommendations
regarding safety. Died in Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 2268 (Caldera) Chapter 1000, Statutes of 1993,
prohibits a person under 18 years of age from operating, or
riding upon a bicycle as a passenger, upon a street,
bikeway, or other public bicycle path or trail unless the
person is wearing a helmet meeting specified standards. The
bill provides for fines to be imposed for violations of
this prohibition and requires all the revenue derived from
the fines to be allocated as specified. Requires that the
charge against a person be dismissed if it is the first
charge against that person for a violation of this
prohibition. Requires any safety helmet sold or offered for
sale to be conspicuously labeled in accordance with the
specified standards and would prohibit the sale or offer
for sale of any bicycle safety helmet which is not of a
type meeting the safety standards.
Arguments in support
The California Psychological Association claims
neuropsychological research has shown that half of all
skiing deaths are caused by a head injury. Observations on
acute rehabilitation units from brain injured patients
demonstrates that individuals who wore helmets during their
accidents seemed to have less severe injuries and were
consequently discharged earlier, with less in the way of
post-discharge services. Individuals wearing helmets were
more likely to return to pre-accident levels of functioning
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sooner, compared to their non-helmeted counterparts.
The California Ski Industry Association claims that winter
sports carry inherent risks and studies show helmet use in
many situations can lessen the risk of head injuries. The
most recent study by the National Ski Areas Association
shows that approximately 85 percent of kids under 9 years
of age and 75 percent of kids under 14 currently wear
helmets. They believe this bill, along with their national
campaign "Lids on Kids," will do much to educate the public
about the need to wear helmets when skiing or snowboarding.
COMMENTS
1. Lack of enforcement. As SB 105 is drafted, no
entity would be directly responsible for enforcing the
provisions of the bill, nor does the bill contain any
mechanisms to ensure compliance. The bill is loosely
modeled after existing laws requiring bicyclists to
wear helmets, which are enforced by local police and
California Highway Patrol officers who are responsible
for routinely patrolling roadways. However, these law
enforcement entities may not be natural enforcement
entities for this bill, because the locations of the
potential violations (ski resorts) are not locations
where most law enforcement entities conduct routine
patrols. The author may wish to consider one or more
of the following options to better ensure enforcement:
a. Mimicking all requirements in existing
statute governing unsupervised recreational skate
parks. Operators of skateboard parks are
prohibited from permitting any person to ride a
skateboard therein, unless the person is wearing
specified protective equipment, including a
helmet. Local agencies, cities, or counties with
public recreational skateboard facilities that
are not supervised on a regular basis, implement
this law by adopting a local ordinance requiring
any person riding a skateboard at the facility to
wear protective equipment, and by posting signs
at the facility alerting boarders of the
ordinance and that violators of the ordinance are
subject to a citation. This bill already requires
resorts to post signs about the ski helmet
requirement, but the author may also wish to
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consider allowing local agencies to supplement
this measure with their own local ordinances.
b. Placing enforcement responsibility on ski
resort operators. Ski resort operators could be
required to revoke passes of noncompliant minors,
or issue citations to noncompliant minors or
parents. Conversely, they could be required to
report violations to local law enforcement, which
could then enforce the provisions. However,
enforcement questions would remain, such as who
would enforce the ski resorts' compliance?
In the absence of enforcement requirements, the author
may wish to consider other methods of ensuring
compliance with this bill including:
a. Requiring lift ticket sellers or
equipment rental providers to give information to
purchasers about the new law at the point-of-sale
and/or on the lift ticket.
b. Creating a complaint process for people
to issue complaints when ski resorts are not
enforcing the law or when skiers are not
following the law.
2. Fines. The bill levies a fine of $25 for violations
of this bill, and waives the fine for first-time
offenders. It is not clear if this level of fine is
enough to affect behavior. Suggested amendments would
be to incorporate graduated fines of $25 for the first
offense, $50 for the second offense, and $100 for each
subsequent offense.
Also, the bill does not designate any entity to
receive the fines collected pursuant to this bill. The
author may wish to designate an appropriate entity to
receive the fines, which may also assist in ensuring
that the measure is enforced.
3. Differences between SB 105 and the bicycle law.
This bill was primarily based on helmet laws for
bicyclists, with a few differences. Bicycle helmet
statutes contain provisions that the ski helmet law
does not carry over, including:
a. A requirement that all helmets be labeled
to certify that the helmet conforms to applicable
safety standards.
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b. A prohibition on the sale of helmets that
do not conform to the specified safety
requirements.
c. Allocation of the fines collected
pursuant to the statute.
POSITIONS
Support: California Psychological Association (Sponsor)
Alameda Psychological Association
American Academy of Pediatrics
AFSCME
Brain Injury Association of California
California Chiropractic Association
California Emergency Nurses Association
California Hospital Association
California Medical Association
California Nurses Association
California Psychiatric Association
California Psychological Association of Graduate
Students
California School Nurses Organization
California Ski and Snowboard Safety Organization
California Ski Industry Association
California Society of Industrial Medicine and
Surgery
California Society of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation
The Child Abuse Prevention Center
Children's Specialty Care Coalition
Contra Costa Psychological Association
Los Angeles County Psychological Association
Marin County Psychological Association
The Monterey Bay Psychological Association
Napa-Solano Psychological Association
Orange County Psychological Association
Pacific-Cascade Psychological Association
Redwood Psychological Association
Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc.
San Diego Psychological Association
San Francisco Psychological Association
San Joaquin Psychological Association
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San Mateo County Psychological Association
Santa Clara County Psychological Association
Oppose: None received
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