Amended in Assembly May 15, 2014

Amended in Senate April 16, 2013

Amended in Senate April 4, 2013

Senate Bill No. 564

Introduced by Senator Monning

February 22, 2013

An act to add Article 3 (commencing with Section 115815) to Chapter 4 of Part 10 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to recreational activities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 564, as amended, Monning. Ski resorts: begin delete safety plans: end delete accident reports.

Existing law regulates certain behavior related to recreational activities and public safety, including, among other things, playgrounds and wooden playground equipment.

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This bill would require a ski resort to prepare an annual safety plan and, upon request, make the safety plan available to the public the same day the request is received. The bill would also require a ski resort to make available to the public, within 30 days of receipt of a request, a monthly report with specified details about any fatal incidents at the resort that resulted from a recreational activity.

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The bill would specify that the above-described provisions do not change the existing assumption of risk doctrine as it applies to ski resorts.

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This bill would, among other things, require a ski resort, as defined, to submit a monthly summary accident report, as defined, to the State Department of Public Health, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to request additional safety-related information, as provided, and would require the department to post the reports and other information onto its publicly accessible Internet Web site.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert begin insert

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

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(a) Residents and visitors annually make five to six million daily
visits to California’s mountain ski resorts, and analysis of hospital
discharge and emergency room visit data reveals over 11,500 ski
and snowboard injuries are treated at California hospitals each
year.

end insert begin insert

(b) Ski resorts are not uniformly subject to any federal or state
safety statutes, regulations, or reporting requirements and do not
provide or make accessible accident, death, and injury statistics
or other safety-related information to government or the public.

end insert begin insert

(c) Resort patrons are required to agree to negligence waivers
with the purchase of a resort lift ticket or season pass.

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(d) The State Department of Public Health has established
branches and units to provide statewide surveillance and control
of accidents and injuries.

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begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 3 (commencing with Section 115815) is added
to Chapter 4 of Part 10 of Division 104 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 3. end insert   Ski Resorts

 

begin insert 115815. end insert   

For the purposes of this article, the following
definitions shall apply:

(a) “Accidents” means any occurrence resulting in a death or
an injury or injuries other than those requiring only minimal first
aid, such as minor abrasions and bruises.

(b) “Department” means the State Department of Public Health.

(c) “Ski resort” or “resort” means the operator of a snow sport
facility.

(d) “Skier day” means use of a snow sport facility by a patron
who skis, snowboards, or engages in any other snow sport during
a single calendar day of facility operations. The number of skier
days are used to track use as well as to normalize other patron
volume-related statistics over a defined period of facility
operations.

(e) “Snow sport facility” means a facility located in California,
including any facility that operates on federal land in California,
that is used by skiers, snowboarders, and persons engaged in other
forms of gravity propelled, nonmotorized, and upright downhill
sliding snow sports.

(f) “Summary accident report” or “report” means a report that
contains all of the following with respect to a snow sport facility:

(1) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
reporting period that occurred on its lifts, slopes, or trails or after
an intended or unintended egress from the slope and trail
boundaries to adjacent terrain.

(2) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
reporting period that resulted in a death, either at the site of the
accident, during the subsequent emergency transport, or at a
medical care facility.

(3) The number of accidents reported to a resort during the
reporting period that resulted in nonfatal injuries requiring
transportation by air or ground ambulance to a medical care
facility.

(4) The number of skier days and the number of days of full or
partial operation during the reporting period.

begin insert 115816. end insert   

(a) By the 15th calendar day after the end of each
full or partial calendar month that a facility is used as a snow
sport facility, a resort shall submit to the Injury Surveillance and
Epidemiology Unit of the Safe and Active Communities Branch
within the department, or other division, branch, or unit, as
specified by the department, an electronic summary accident report
in a format acceptable to the department.

(b) As part of or in addition to the summary accident report,
the department may request additional safety-related information
as it deems necessary or desirable and is available to the resort.
The resort shall respond to all such requests on a timely basis.

(c) Any information relating to a victim’s identity shall be
redacted by the resort prior to submitting the report or other
requested information to the department.

(d) The department shall post all reports and information
received pursuant to this section onto its publicly accessible
Internet Web site.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Article 3 (commencing with Section 115815) is
added to Chapter 4 of Part 10 of Division 104 of the Health and
Safety Code, to read:

 

Article 3.  Ski Resorts

 

115815.  

A ski resort that operates in California shall do all of
the following:

(a) Prepare an annual safety plan that conforms with the
requirements of federal regulations applicable to ski resorts
operating on federal property.

(b) Make the annual safety plan available to the public at the
ski resort, upon request, the same day the request is received.

(c) Make available to the public, within 30 days of receipt of a
request, a monthly report containing the following information, if
known:

(1) A description of each incident resulting in a fatality that
occurred on the ski resort property and resulted from a recreational
activity, such as skiing, snowboarding, or sledding, that the resort
is designed to provide.

(2) The age of each person fatally injured in an incident
identified in paragraph (1), the type of recreational activity
involved, the cause of the fatality, the location at the resort where
the incident occurred, and the name of any facility where medical
treatment was provided. The report shall not identify a deceased
person by name or address.

(d) This article does not change the existing assumption of risk
doctrine as it applies to ski resorts.

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