Council Endorses Skateboarding Bill

Joining next-door neighbor Cypress, La Palma is on record as favoring passage of a bill in the Legislature that would protect cities from skateboard-related lawsuits.

La Palma’s City Council passed a resolution endorsing Assembly Bill 2357. Sponsored by Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), the measure would add skateboarding to the state’s list of “hazardous recreational activities.”

Such a designation helps protect cities from lawsuits stemming from accidents involving those activities.

In a telephone interview this week from Sacramento, Morrow said the skateboard bill is strongly opposed by trial lawyers. The measure has passed the Assembly and is pending in the Senate, Morrow said, where there has been an effort to kill it.

In a memo to the council, City Manager Daniel E. Keen wrote: “Current law provides that neither public entities nor public employees are liable to any person who participates in a ‘hazardous recreational activity,’ as defined.

“There are a wide variety of activities already classified as ‘hazardous recreational activities,’ such as downhill skiing, rock climbing, sky diving and tree climbing.”

Keen said the increased popularity of skateboarding, particularly on public sidewalks and in parks, has exposed cities to additional liability.

The Assembly bill, Keen said, “would shift liability for injuries from this activity to the participant rather than to the cities.”

Cypress passed a similar resolution June 24.