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Minutes for HB2389 - Committee on Federal and State Affairs
Short Title
Amendments to the Kansas amusement ride act.
Minutes Content for Fri, Mar 24, 2017
Chairperson Barker opened the hearing for neutral testimony on HB2389.
Chairperson Barker recognized Edward Pribonic, P.E., who provided neutral testimony on HB2389 (Attachment 1) (Attachment 1A). Chairperson Barker noted that 40 states have adopted the ASTM standards. Questions were asked by Representatives Whitmer, Carmichael, and Rooker.
Representative Weber asked Mr. Pribonic if professionally he generally is involved with representing plaintiffs' lawsuits against amusement ride manufacturers and operators. His response was that most of his work comes from his engineering practice. Approximately 15 years ago he was contacted to assist and advise in a lawsuit involving an amusement ride. Over time he has gotten more and more of that work, and it varies from year to year. Today that represents approximately 30-40% of his business, and the mix of plaintiff and defendant work is about 50-50. If a manufacturer asks for his help in defining their design of a ride in defense of a lawsuit and he finds that they aren't trying to mislead him and the facts of the case support that, he is happy to help them. On the other side, a lot of people are injured and get the run-around and can't find any way to make a case because they don't understand the equipment. If it's a legitimate case and the facts support what they are telling him, he will take that case as well.
In response to a question asked by Chairperson Barker, Mr. Pribonic stated that there are ASTM standards on water slides at municipal pools. He explained those standards. Chairperson Barker asked the Revisor to provide the Committee members with an electronic copy the ASTM standards.
Chairperson Barker recognized Daniel Yarnell of Toby's Carnival as a neutral on HB2389 (Attachment 2).
Eric Smith testified as a neutral on behalf of the League of Kansas Municipalities (Attachment 3).
Marlee Carpenter, Kansas Association of Property and Casualty Insurance Companies, was recognized by the Chair as a neutral of HB2389 (Attachment 4).
Larrie Ann Brown testified as a neutral on behalf of the Legislative Counsel for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) (Attachment 5).
John Meetz of NAPSLO was recognized by the Chair (Attachment 6).
Chairperson Barker opened the floor for questions. Representatives Rooker and Sawyer had questions for Mr. Yarnell. Representative Highland requested the statutes relating to amusement ride insurance from Ms. Brown. She stated the statutes are K.S.A. 40-4801-4803 (Attachment 9). Representative Clayton had a question for Ms. Carpenter, and Representatives Whitmer and Rooker questioned Mr. Smith. Chairperson Barker asked Representative Whitmer to provide the Committee with the certification qualifications of inspectors. Representative Carmichael requested information from Mr. Meetz relating to insurance. Representative Williams had a question for the Revisor regarding municipal pools.
Chairperson Barker noted that there was written neutral testimony from Erika Scheffer of International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (Attachment 7); and Robert Johnson of Outdoor Amusement Business Association (Attachment 8).
Chairperson Barker asked if there were any further neutral conferees. Seeing none, the hearing on HB2389 was closed.
Chairperson Barker advised that next week we will meet at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, but on Tuesday, Wednesday, and possibly Thursday, we will meet at 8:00 a.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 a.m.
Following the meeting, Representative Whitmer provided the Committee with the electronic link to the ASTM Standards and provided them with a Comparison of State Ride Safety Regulations (Attachment 10) and the U.S. Federal and State Amusement Ride Regulation (Attachment 11).
