BILL NUMBER: SB 1179 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 26, 2006
INTRODUCED BY Senator Morrow
JANUARY 17, 2006
An act to amend Section 831.7 of the Government Code, and to
repeal and add Section 115800 of the Health and Safety Code, relating
to recreational activities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1179, as amended, Morrow Recreational activities:
skateboarding.
Under existing law, public entities and public employees are
generally not liable to any person who participates in various
hazardous recreational activities, including bicycle racing or
jumping and mountain bicycling.
This bill would add skateboarding to that provision of law.
Existing law, effective until January 1, 2008, provides that
skateboarding at a public skateboard park is a hazardous recreational
activity , if specified conditions are satisfied. That
law, also in effect until January 1, 2008, requires local public
agencies to maintain a record of all known or reported injuries
incurred by skateboarders in a public skateboard park or facility,
and other information regarding these incidents, as specified, and
requires that copies of those records be filed annually with the
Judicial Council, which is required to report to the Legislature on
these incidents and any claims arising therefrom. Existing law also
prohibits the operator of a skateboard park to permit a person to
ride a skateboard in the park unless the person is wearing a helmet,
elbow pads, and knee pads.
This bill would repeal those provisions. The bill would instead
grant local public agencies, as defined, that own or operate
skateboard parks the authority to determine if helmets, knee pads,
and elbow pads are an appropriate requirement for use by persons at
skateboard parks, or specific areas thereof, which are within the
local public agency's jurisdiction provide that the
decision of a local public agency whether to regulate conditions of
use at a public skateboard park does not alter a public
entity or public employee's immunity from liability to persons who
participate in certain hazardous recreational activities .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 831.7 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
831.7. (a) Neither a public entity nor a public employee is
liable to any person who participates in a hazardous recreational
activity, including any person who assists the participant, or to any
spectator who knew or reasonably should have known that the
hazardous recreational activity created a substantial risk of injury
to himself or herself and was voluntarily in the place of risk, or
having the ability to do so failed to leave, for any damage or injury
to property or persons arising out of that hazardous recreational
activity.
(b) As used in this section, "hazardous recreational activity"
means a recreational activity conducted on property of a public
entity which creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor,
trivial, or insignificant) risk of injury to a participant or a
spectator.
"Hazardous recreational activity" also means:
(1) Water contact activities, except diving, in places where or at
a time when lifeguards are not provided and reasonable warning
thereof has been given or the injured party should reasonably have
known that there was no lifeguard provided at the time.
(2) Any form of diving into water from other than a diving board
or diving platform, or at any place or from any structure where
diving is prohibited and reasonable warning thereof has been given.
(3) Animal riding, including equestrian competition, archery,
bicycle racing or jumping, mountain bicycling, boating, cross-country
and downhill skiing, hang gliding, kayaking, motorized vehicle
racing, off-road motorcycling or four-wheel driving of any kind,
orienteering, pistol and rifle shooting, rock climbing, rocketeering,
rodeo, skateboarding, spelunking, sky diving, sport parachuting,
paragliding, body contact sports (i.e., sports in which it is
reasonably foreseeable that there will be rough bodily contact with
one or more participants), surfing, trampolining, tree climbing, tree
rope swinging, waterskiing, white water rafting, and windsurfing.
For the purposes of this subdivision, "mountain bicycling" does not
include riding a bicycle on paved pathways, roadways, or sidewalks.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a), this
section does not limit liability which would otherwise exist for any
of the following:
(1) Failure of the public entity or employee to guard or warn of a
known dangerous condition or of another hazardous recreational
activity known to the public entity or employee that is not
reasonably assumed by the participant as inherently a part of the
hazardous recreational activity out of which the damage or injury
arose.
(2) Damage or injury suffered in any case where permission to
participate in the hazardous recreational activity was granted for a
specific fee. For the purpose of this paragraph, a "specific fee"
does not include a fee or consideration charged for a general purpose
such as a general park admission charge, a vehicle entry or parking
fee, or an administrative or group use application or permit fee, as
distinguished from a specific fee charged for participation in the
specific hazardous recreational activity out of which the damage or
injury arose.
(3) Injury suffered to the extent proximately caused by the
negligent failure of the public entity or public employee to properly
construct or maintain in good repair any structure, recreational
equipment or machinery, or substantial work of improvement utilized
in the hazardous recreational activity out of which the damage or
injury arose.
(4) Damage or injury suffered in any case where the public entity
or employee recklessly or with gross negligence promoted the
participation in or observance of a hazardous recreational activity.
For purposes of this paragraph, promotional literature or a public
announcement or advertisement which merely describes the available
facilities and services on the property does not in itself constitute
a reckless or grossly negligent promotion.
(5) An act of gross negligence by a public entity or a public
employee which is the proximate cause of the injury.
Nothing in this subdivision creates a duty of care or basis of
liability for personal injury or for damage to personal property.
(d) Nothing in this section shall limit the liability of an
independent concessionaire, or any person or organization other than
the public entity, whether or not the person or organization has a
contractual relationship with the public entity to use the public
property, for injuries or damages suffered in any case as a result of
the operation of a hazardous recreational activity on public
property by the concessionaire, person, or organization.
SEC. 2. Section 115800 of the Health and Safety Code, as amended
by Section 1 of Chapter 409 of the Statutes of 2002, is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 115800 of the Health and Safety Code, as amended
by Section 2 of Chapter 409 of the Statutes of 2002, is repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 115800 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
115800. (a) A local public agency that owns or operates
skateboard parks shall have the authority to determine if helmets,
knee pads, and elbow pads are an appropriate requirement for use by
persons at skateboard parks, or specific areas thereof, which are
within the local public agency's jurisdiction. The
decision of a local public agency whether to regulate conditions of
use at a public skateboard park does not alter a public entity or
public employee's immunity from liability to persons who participate
in hazardous recreational activities, pursuant to Section 831.7 of
the Government Code.
(b) For purposes of this section, "local public agency" includes,
but is not limited to, a city, county, city and county, and special
district.