July 16, 2008

Mylar balloon ban bill popped

Sen. Jack Scott announced Wednesday that he was amending his controversial bill to ban the sale of metallic balloons in California to require a university study of the topic.

The so-called balloon bill has been one of the big public attention-grabbers of the 2008 session.

Scott's bill, SB 1499, had passed out of the state Senate and had a hearing today in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where it went to the suspense file.

"We have worked diligently on this bill and have come up with a compromise that strengthens the oversight of helium-filled, metallic balloons while removing the opposition of the balloon industry," said Scott in a statement.

The bill's amendments have crossed the desk. You can read them here.

The problems with mylar balloons, advocates of the bill have said, is that they float away, get tangled in power lines and cause power outages.

The new bill makes a couple other minor changes, including prohibiting the use of toys or candy as weights for the balloons (weights are already required), a flier to be posted at the place of sale and an increase in the typeface of the balloon warning label.

The university study, to be performed at the University of California, is to be privately funded.

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on July 16, 2008 10:54 AM