GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS OABA’S INVOLVEMENT IN U.S. REGULATORY ACTIONS
OABA’s Involvement in U.S. Regulatory Actions California
Occupational Safety and Health (CALOSHA) Division. Portable Amusement Ride Fees Hearing was held on June 18, conducted by the Department of Industrial Relations, is the first readoption of emergency action no. 2017−0623−03EFP, an amendment to section 344.18 of title 8 of the California Code of Regulations. Both California portable ride owner’s alliance (CalPRO) and the OABA sent comments objecting to the increase in inspection fees and the mobile amusement industry’s right under the Act to conduct third-party inspections, to the DOSH general counsel conducting the hearing. CalPRO’s leadership, Jim Hall, Butler Amusements and Chris Lopez, RCS, attended this hearing to present industry comments.
Since then, the Manatt Group and CalPRO leadership arranged for a meeting with state officials in October to discuss third-party inspections and lower hourly inspection fees. In the meantime, some operators are reporting last year’s lower inspection fees charged by DOSH after the “emergency rule” expired.
Illinois SB 3240. The Governor signed SB 3240, to increase fines for carnival owners who do not perform the required background checks. SB 3240 raises the fines (rather than expanding criminal background checks to all employees) if a carnival owner does not perform background checks on ride operators. This bill makes changes to provisions concerning the penalty for a person, firm, corporation or other entity that owns or operates a carnival, amusement enterprise or fair that employs a carnival or amusement enterprise worker convicted of specified offenses or that fails to conduct a criminal history records check or a sex offender registry check for a carnival or amusement enterprise worker that it employs. The fine for the first offense was raised to a maximum of $5,000, and for the second offense up to $10,000. For a third offense, the owner’s permit to operate may be revoked by the Illinois Department of Labor. This takes effect in January 2019.
New Jersey
Regulation and Inspection of Portable Electric Distribution Systems for Carnivals and Fairs, and ASTM F 2959-16. The New Jersey Carnival and Amusement Ride Safety Advisory Board (CARSAB) held their regularly scheduled meeting on September 20, 2018. According to NJAA attorney Lary Zucker, two new rule proposals were introduced to the board. One involves regulation
28 OABA ShowTime Magazine | DECEMBER 2018
and inspection of portable electric distribution systems for carnivals and fairs. The other is a proposed adoption (with amendments, of course) of ASTM F 2959-16 covering Aerial Adventure Courses. These two amendments were briefly discussed but will not be voted on until the next CARSAB meeting, which is tentatively set for November 29, 2018.
Ohio HB 631. “Tyler’s Law” introduced on May 15 and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development because of the Ohio State Fair Fireball ride incident in 2017. The bill calls for hiring more state inspectors, giving preference to individuals who are professional engineers. It would require the Ohio Department of Agriculture to follow all the voluntary safety standards established by ASTM and keep ride manuals on file for inspectors to review. It also requires more detailed logs of repairs and maintenance done on rides, with fines for non-compliance. As reported last month, the Ohio Department of Health officially released their proposed new version of food safety rule 3701-21-25, that would now include a provision requiring a “person in charge certificate” for mobile food concessions. GOSA, Fairs, OABA and NICA submitted comments in
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