BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1146
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1146 (Jones)
As Amended July 6, 2015
Majority vote
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 | (April 30, |SENATE: | 38-0 | (July 13, 2015) |
| | |2015) | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: JUD.
SUMMARY: Expands local government immunity from liability for
injuries to recreational users of public skateboard parks to
include riders of wheeled recreational devices other than
skateboards, as provided. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines the term "other wheeled recreational device" to mean
nonmotorized bicycles, scooters, in-line skates, roller skates
or wheelchairs.
2)Prohibits an operator of a skateboard park from permitting any
person to ride other wheeled recreational devices in the
skateboard park, unless that person is wearing a helmet, elbow
pads, and knee pads.
AB 1146
Page 2
3)Provides that a facility owned or operated by a local public
agency, that is designed and maintained for the purpose of
riding a recreational skateboard or other wheeled recreational
device, and that is unsupervised, may comply with the above
requirement by: a) adopting an ordinance requiring anyone
riding a skateboard or other wheeled recreational device at
the facility to wear a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads; and
b) posting signs that inform all riders that they must wear
those items and that failing to do so will subject them to a
citation.
4)Provides that riding a skateboard or other wheeled recreation
device or any concurrent combination of these activities at a
public skateboard park constitutes a "hazardous recreational
activity" if the rider is at least 12 years old, the activity
causing the injury was stunt, trick, or luge riding, and the
injury occurred at a public skateboard park requiring a
helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads.
5)Requires the appropriate local public agency to maintain a
record of all known or reported injuries incurred by persons
riding skateboard or other wheeled recreational devices in a
public skateboard park or facility, as well as a record of all
claims, paid and not paid, including any lawsuits and their
results, arising from those incidents that were filed against
the public agency. Requires copies of the claims and lawsuits
to be filed annually, no later than January 30 each year, with
the Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees.
6)Establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2020, for provisions
applying to riders of other wheeled recreation devices (but
not skateboarders), whereby such provisions will remain in
effect only until that date unless a later enacted statute
deletes or extends the sunset.
The Senate amendments clarify that liability provisions for
injuries that occur while operating nonmotorized bicycles,
AB 1146
Page 3
scooters, in-line skates, roller skates or wheelchairs in the
park apply to any claim for injuries occurring on or after
January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: This bill, sponsored by the County of San Diego
(County), seeks to expand local government immunity from
liability for injuries caused by recreational users of public
skateboard parks to include not only skateboarders (the only
group covered under existing law), but also riders of wheeled
recreational devices other than skateboards, such as
nonmotorized bicycles, scooters, and roller skates.
According to the author and sponsor, the existing immunity laws
regarding public skateboard parks force public park operators
like the County to restrict use of skateboard parks to only
skateboarders, when there is great demand by riders of other
wheeled devices, such as BMX bikes, scooters and roller skates,
to also use the slopes, ramps, and curbs available at the parks
for recreation. Citing an example in County, the proponents
explain:
The County would like to accommodate other wheeled,
non-motorized recreational uses of the skate park,
such as bicycles, scooters and wheelchairs. Because
[Section 115800] specifically refers to skateboarders
for skate parks operated by local governments, and
does not address or include the other all-wheeled
non-motorized uses in the liability immunity, the
County posts rules restricting the use of the Lakeside
Skate Park to only skateboarders.
As the popularity of skate parks and other wheeled
activities in skate parks continue to rise, this
[bill] would allow local governments to accommodate
these uses and maintain immunity for injuries.
AB 1146
Page 4
Without such changes, local governments are forced to
make difficult risk assessments on which activities to
allow within skate parks. Furthermore, allowing these
other all-wheeled non-motorized devices to participate
at local skate parks would promote safety for the
riders and protect public and private property that
may otherwise be damaged.
Background on public entity liability for skateboarding
injuries. Government Code Section 831.7 defines "hazardous
recreational activity" as a recreational activity conducted on
the property of a public entity that creates a substantial risk
of injury to a participant or spectator, and shields public
entities and public employees from liability for injuries caused
by any person participating in a hazardous recreational
activity. Health and Safety Code Section 115800 (Section
115800) deems skateboarding a hazardous recreational activity
within the meaning of Government Code Section 831.7 if certain
conditions are met. The qualified immunity provided by Section
115800 applies only when a skateboarder is at least 12 years old
and is engaging in trick, stunt, or luge skateboarding at a
public skate park that, among other things, requires riders to
wear helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads.
With this grant of qualified immunity, local communities are
encouraged to require use of proper safety equipment on the
premises to limit their liability and have become more
comfortable building public skateboard parks. Skateboard parks
provide a dedicated location for individuals to skateboard
without trespassing on private property or facing vehicular
hazards, and increased use of such parks helps encourage
skateboarders to do their riding off of local public streets and
sidewalks, where they potentially pose greater risk to
pedestrians and bystanders.
Extending local government immunity to other users of skateboard
parks. In order to lend support to local governments' efforts
to encourage more riders of other wheeled devices off the
streets and into public skate parks, this bill would expand
AB 1146
Page 5
existing qualified immunity to include other groups of wheeled
recreational riders. Proponents contend that this would help
local governments that operate skate parks to avoid having to
limit their use to skateboarders only, and would protect public
property and safety that might be jeopardized by riders who
would otherwise be excluded from their local skate parks. Under
this bill, the same conditions that qualify the provision of
immunity with respect to skateboarders would apply to riders of
other wheeled recreational devices. For example, park operators
would have to mirror safety requirements for skateboarders and
require riders of other wheeled devices: to require users to
wear a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads when riding at the
skate park in order for liability protections to apply.
This bill applies to recreational use of nonmotorized
wheelchairs in a public skate park. Recent amendments to this
bill define the key term "other wheeled recreational device" to
mean nonmotorized bicycles, scooters, in-line skates, roller
skates, or wheelchairs. The list of devices is a closed list,
and no other wheeled forms of recreation fall within the bill's
definition of that term. Scooters, in-line skates, and roller
skates are more similar to skateboards in that the person rides
on them in an upright position, typically upon small
polyurethane wheels, and the top speed and maneuverability of
those devices are similar to skateboards.
This bill also includes the use of nonmotorized bicycles and
wheelchairs in the definition of "other wheeled recreational
devices." While the inclusion of bicycles may not be
surprising, the image of wheelchairs being used on the ramps and
slopes of a public skate park may be unexpected. According to
the sponsor, representatives of wheelchair riders specifically
requested to be included in the provisions of this bill, opening
up skateboard parks to other types of wheeled users, which
reflects the growing popularity of wheelchair athletes in
professional freestyle action sports and increased participation
by wheelchair users in public recreational settings.
Participants in such sports typically employ sturdy, lightweight
wheelchairs often adapted for recreational use, but in every
case are manually propelled by using upper body and arm
AB 1146
Page 6
strength, not a motor. The strength and dexterity required to
manually steer and propel a wheelchair over and around the
slopes and ramps of a skateboard park likely limits the number
of wheelchair riders who would ride in skateboard parks to a
small self-selected minority who are capable of doing so. For
these reasons, the author believes that the inclusion of
wheelchairs in the definition of wheeled recreational devices
other than skateboards is appropriate for evaluation during the
four-year trial period that these provisions will be effective
before the proposed sunset date of January 1, 2020.
Four-year sunset date for provisions applying to riders of other
wheeled recreational devices. In order to pilot these
provisions and evaluate their impact on usage of skateboard
parks and rates of recreational injuries, this bill establishes
a four-year trial period for all provisions relating to other
wheeled recreational devices. These provisions would
automatically expire on the sunset date of January 1, 2020,
unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends the sunset.
Importantly, the liability rules for skateboarders using
skateboard parks, which have previously been evaluated by the
Legislature through a series of earlier trial periods, will not
be the subject of the trial period established by this bill. It
is the author's intent that should the provisions in this bill
be enacted this year but ultimately sunset at the end of the
trial period, the liability rules that currently apply to
skateboarders riding in skateboard parks will continue to
operate without interruption.
Reporting requirements. The Judicial Council's (Council)
reports to the Legislature, as required by Section 115800,
demonstrate a relatively low injury rate associated with
skateboarding in public skateboard parks. For example, the
March 13, 2002, report found a total of 80 skateboarding
injuries occurred at skateboarding parks in nine cities during
the 2001 calendar year. This amounts to less than one injury
per skateboard park each month.
AB 1146
Page 7
The Council's March 24, 2011, report reflects the results of 34
public agencies submitting reports of skateboarding injuries in
their jurisdictions. According to the report, a total of 792
injuries were reported from 2002 to 2010, inclusive, with facial
injuries being the most common type of injury reported, followed
by injuries to the ankle, head and arm. This translates into
2.6 injuries reported by each public agency per year of the
study. The Council also states that none of the 34 public
agencies mentioned any claims or lawsuits filed against them as
a result of such injuries. The Assembly Judiciary Committee's
own research failed to identify any published California cases
concerning a lawsuit against a city for injuries caused at a
public skateboard park.
This bill would continue the current reporting scheme of
requiring local public agencies to annually file with the
Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees copies of any records
of claims or lawsuits arising from known or reported injuries
incurred by riders at public skateboard parks. This bill
clarifies that any claims or lawsuits arising from injuries
incurred by riders of wheeled recreation devices other than
skateboards must be filed annually, in addition to those arising
from skateboard accidents.
Analysis Prepared by:
Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334FN: 0001192
AB 1146
Page 8