Sponsor Pulls Back Theme-Park Measure

In a surprise move, a state senator set aside his tough theme-park regulation bill Monday and joined forces with the author of a weaker measure that could be voted on today in the state Assembly.

Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda) said he yielded to Assemblyman Tom Torlakson’s approach to regulating the industry because the Antioch Democrat had worked on the issue longer and in more depth.

Torlakson got involved in theme-park safety two years ago after a high school senior was killed in an accident on a water slide in Northern California. Last year, he sponsored a bill to regulate theme parks, but the measure was defeated.

He and Perata introduced bills this year partly in response to a Christmas Eve tragedy at Disneyland. A park visitor died of his injuries in that accident, and his wife and a park worker were seriously hurt.

California is one of only 12 states that do not regulate permanent theme parks.

Perata said he will continue to play a key role in the theme-park legislation and will sponsor the Torlakson bill in the Senate.

Representatives of the state’s 71 theme parks “may be willing to sit down and negotiate” with Torlakson, Perata said.

A Disney executive asked Perata this spring to drop his bill in favor of Torlakson’s measure. Since then, however, Torlakson has toughened up his proposal.

Though both bills would have required theme parks to report serious accidents, Perata’s measure called for semiannual state inspections, while Torlakson’s bill requires a state inspection only once every four years.

Torlakson’s bill also calls for an annual “walk-through” of all parks with an option to inspect a ride fully if any unsafe conditions are observed.

Theme-park lobbyists are fighting inspections on grounds that their own safety engineers, adhering to new state standards, are more capable. The parks also are trying to get a definition of “serious” injury to limit the number and kinds of accidents they would have to report.

Perata emphasized that his bill is not dead, just inactive. It can be brought back if the Assembly bill is watered down later as it moves through the Legislature.

“It’s not going away,” Perata said.

Torlakson said Tuesday that, by joining forces with Perata, he increases the likelihood of passing a strong bill. He expects to bring his bill up for a vote in the Assembly today, the two-year anniversary of the water-slide death.