Ride Checks Key in Theme Park Bill, Author Says

The assemblyman whose bid to regulate the state’s amusement parks failed last year said Tuesday that a bill he plans to introduce this week would require an independent agency to inspect permanent rides at all parks every year.

Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) said that allowing parks to inspect themselves and file affidavits stating that their rides are safe would not be acceptable under his bill. In Florida, where Disney World and other major theme parks operate, state law allows such self-certification.

“I want to see a set of standards that everyone has to meet,” Torlakson said at a news conference Tuesday at Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier. An affidavit system, he said, “would not, in and of itself, be acceptable.”

His California Permanent Amusement Rides Safety Act also would require public reports of injuries and accidents, employee safety training and proof of insurance.

Executives at Disneyland, where a Christmas Eve accident killed one person and injured two others, have said previously that they would consider supporting a state law that regulates and assures safety at amusement parks throughout California.

Torlakson’s proposed measure is more of an outline with details to be filled in later through amendments. Lawmakers and industry officials will look to models in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Ohio to compare regulations and create the specific language of the bill.

Torlakson said, though, that his measure would require a state agency or “an independent, state-accountable inspector” to handle annual inspection of all rides. If state inspectors are used, preliminary estimates suggest the inspections would cost $300,000 to $400,000 annually.

“We as citizens expect somebody besides corporate bean-counters to decide what rides are safe,” said Kathryn Dresslar, a senior policy advocate at the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the Center for Public Interest Law.

“Regulation isn’t scary or unusual. The public appreciates and accepts it.”

Public disclosure of injuries and accidents is paramount because amusement parks try to keep them out of the news, she said.

“Bad press isn’t a problem” because lawsuit settlements often include provisions that require secrecy. But state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) plans to introduce a “sunshine in the courts” bill this week that would require disclosure of settlement terms in cases involving defective products, financial fraud and environmental hazards.

Torlakson said his proposal would likely require reporting of all injuries resulting in hospitalization or physician attention.

He hopes that growing industry support for his effort and public concern about park safety will make this legislative attempt successful.

He had introduced a similar bill after a student was killed and 32 of her classmates injured in a June 1997 water slide collapse at Waterworks USA in Concord.

The bill died last year after what he said was fierce lobbying by the amusement park industry.

California is one of 10 states that have no regulatory authority over fixed amusement park rides, and the parks have no requirement to disclose injuries or accidents.

California, home to five of the 15 most popular amusement parks in the nation, leads all states in amusement park fatalities.

Fourteen people have died on rides at California theme parks in the last 25 years, Torlakson said, while Florida, which has nearly double the number of park patrons, has had one death in the same period.