BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 105| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ VETO Bill No: SB 105 Author: Yee (D), et al. Amended: 6/22/11 Vote: 21 SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 8-1, 3/23/11 AYES: Hernandez, Strickland, Alquist, Blakeslee, De León, DeSaulnier, Rubio, Wolk NOES: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR : 32-6, 4/25/11 AYES: Alquist, Blakeslee, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Yee NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Fuller, La Malfa, Runner, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, Dutton ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 7/11/11 - See last page for vote SENATE FLOOR : 31-5, 8/15/11 AYES: Alquist, Blakeslee, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Yee NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Fuller, La Malfa, Wyland CONTINUED SB 105 Page 2 NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, Evans, Runner, Strickland SUBJECT : Public safety: snow sport helmets SOURCE : California Psychological Association DIGEST : This bill requires persons under 18 years of age to wear properly fitted and fastened snow sport helmets while downhill skiing or snowboarding, and establishes a penalty for skiers, snowboarders, and/or their parent or legal guardian for noncompliance. Assembly Amendments add co-authors and make a technical correction. ANALYSIS : 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: 1. 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. 2. Regulates certain behavior related to recreational activities and public safety, including among other activities, skateboarding and recreational water use. 3. 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. 4. Prohibits operators of skateboard parks from permitting any person to ride a skateboard therein unless the person is wearing specified protective equipment, CONTINUED SB 105 Page 3 including a helmet. 5. 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 (a) adoption of a local ordinance requiring any person riding a skateboard at the facility to wear protective equipment, and (b) 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: 1. 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. 2. Establishes a fine of $25 for any violation of this section. 3. Requires ski resorts to post signs around the resort to alert patrons about the helmet requirement for minors, and the penalty for noncompliance. 4. Requires ski resorts to provide written notice of the helmet requirement for minors on all trail maps and resort websites. 5. Makes the parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated minor jointly and severally liable with the minor for the fine. 6. Exempts Nordic skiing (i.e. cross-country) from these provisions. 7. Provides that the bill does not increase or decrease unspecified duties imposed under existing law. Background CONTINUED SB 105 Page 4 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 2007/08 season, there were 41 serious injuries. Thirty-two of these serious injuries were skiers and nine were snowboarders. The rate of serious injury in 2007/08 was 0.68 per million skier/snowboarder visits. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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, approximately 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 have the highest level of protection in all tested areas of impact. Helmet utilization in the United States 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 nine 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. CONTINUED SB 105 Page 5 In January 1999, the United States 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). Approximately 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. The CPSC noted that studies have shown safety helmets for motorcycling and bicycling provide effective protection against head and brain injuries, including severe brain 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. CONTINUED SB 105 Page 6 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 7/11/11) California Psychological Association (source) American Academy of Pediatrics American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees California Brain Injury Association California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians California Chiropractic Association California Emergency Nurses Association California Hospital Association California Medical Association California Nurses Association California Psychiatric Association 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 Child Abuse Prevention Center Children's Specialty Care Coalition Consumer Attorneys of California National Ski Areas Association Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. OPPOSITION : (Verified 7/11/11) Capitol Resource Family Impact 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 sooner, compared to their CONTINUED SB 105 Page 7 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 nine 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. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Capitol Resource Family Impact writes: "The bill fails to see the burden on businesses by mandating signage and written notifications as well as the overstepping bounds of state government in usurping the rights of the parent to make decisions for their children. Not only are there not enough resources to monitor who wears and doesn't wear a helmet but also who will do the monitoring and who will hand out the violation ticket. Advocates have equated this bill with other laws in California, they fail to acknowledge those laws are geared towards individuals who often ride on busy streets and do so where police officers may cite them for not wearing a helmet. However, law enforcement does not roam the slopes of a ski resort nor is the snowboarder or skier in danger of being hit by a moving vehicle." GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE: "I am returning Senate Bill 105 without my signature. This measure would impose criminal penalties on a child under the age of 18 and his or her parents if the child skis or snowboards without a helmet. While I appreciate the value of wearing a ski helmet, I am concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state. Not every human problem deserves a law. I believe parents have the ability and responsibility to make good choices for their children." CONTINUED SB 105 Page 8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 7/11/11 AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Valadao NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall, Gorell, Mitchell CTW:mw 1/4/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED