What's happening
This bill requires warning labels about protective gear on all retail roller skates and skateboards sold in New York.
Why it matters
Aims to increase consumer awareness of safety risks. by requiring clear, visible warning labels on all retail roller skates and skateboards, stressing the need for full protective gear (helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads) to reduce serious injury.
Places responsibility on manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. to ensure that both product packaging and any included user manuals contain the mandated warning, creating uniform safety messaging at the point of sale.
Empowers the state attorney general to enforce compliance. , allowing courts to issue injunctions and impose civil penalties (up to $500 per violation) even if no injury has occurred, which could lead to stricter oversight and legal accountability for businesses.
Exempts private, second-hand sales between consumers. from these requirements, focusing the mandate only on businesses regularly engaged in selling or distributing these products, and provides a "good faith error" defense for unintentional violations if reasonable precautions were in place.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Warn on Skates and Boards
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to consumer protection
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4899
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 3, 2017
Introduced by Sens. DIAZ, HAMILTON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to notice requirements in the manufacture, assembling and sale of roller skates and skate boards
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 391-u to read as follows:
§ 391-u. Sale of roller skates and skate boards; notification. 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Roller skate" shall have the same meaning as such term is defined by section one hundred forty-b of the vehicle and traffic law.
(b) "Skate board" shall have the same meaning as such term is defined by section one hundred forty-c of the vehicle and traffic law.
(c) "Warning instruction" shall mean a notice in substantially the following form printed in clear and conspicuous type: "WARNING! REDUCE THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY AND ONLY USE (insert 'THESE SKATES' or 'THIS SKATE BOARD', as appropriate) WHILE WEARING FULL PROTECTIVE GEAR - HELMET, WRIST GUARDS, ELBOW PADS AND KNEE PADS."
2. (a) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity which offers to sell, or distribute in this state such roller skates shall do so unless: (i) a warning instruction contained on a label, hangtag, shield or plate clearly visible to the consumer is placed on the outside of the box in which such pair of roller skates is sold or offered for sale at retail; and (ii) each such pair of roller skates which contains a user's guide or buyer's instruction manual also contains a warning instruction within or on such guide or manual.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07334-01-7
S. 4899 2
(b) No person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity shall sell, offer to sell, or distribute in this state such skate boards unless: (i) a warning instruction contained on a label, hangtag, shield or plate clearly visible to the consumer is placed on the outside of the box in which such skate board is sold or offered for sale at retail; and (ii) each skate board which contains a user's guide or buyer's instruction manual also contains a warning instruction within or on such guide or manual.
(c) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is regularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or distributing roller skates at retail for consumer use shall sell, offer to sell, or distribute in this state such roller skates unless such roller skates conform to the manufacturing requirements set forth in paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
(d) No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is regularly engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, or distributing skate boards at retail for consumer use shall sell, offer to sell, or distribute in this state such skate boards unless such skate boards conform to the manufacturing requirements set forth in paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
3. Whenever it shall appear that there has been a violation of this section, an application may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such violation; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has, in fact, violated this article, an injunction may be issued by such court or justice, enjoining and restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitution. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this article has occurred, the court may impose a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for such violation. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.
4. No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity which is regularly engaged in the business of selling, or offering for sale roller skates or skate boards shall be deemed to have violated the provisions of this subdivision, if such person, firm, corporation or other legal entity shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error made notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid any such error.
5. This section shall not apply to the sale of roller skates or skate boards sold or offered for sale by consumers for consumer use.
§ 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to notice requirements in the manufacture, assembling and sale of roller skates and skate boards
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Amends the General Business Law by adding a new section, 391-u. Defines roller skates and skate boards. Requires a warning instruction to be included 1) on a label or hangtag on the outside of the box in which the roller skates or skateboard is offered for sale in order to be visible to the consumer and 2) within the user's guide or instruction manual. Establishes a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for violations associated with this section.
Section 2. Effective Date
Existing law
None.
Justification
This legislation responds to the large number of injuries related to use of skate-boards and roller skates. The United States Consumer Product Safety commission (CPSC) warns consumers that in-line skating can be a dangerous sport if appropriate safety gear is not used. A majority of the injuries were related to one's wrists, arms, and legs. Moreover, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, an estimated 17.7 million youth under the age of eighteen participate in in-line skating, roller-skating and skate-boarding.
Over the past several years, recreational skateboarding has seen an increase in popularity. In 1998, an estimated 5.8 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States participated in skate-boarding. Skate-boarding injuries account for an estimated 50,000 hospital visits each year according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition, among children and teenagers in the United States, 1500 were hospitalized due to injuries that arose from skateboarding. According to the CPSC, six out of every ten skate-board injuries occur with children under the age of fifteen. sprains, fractures, contusions and abrasions are the most common skateboarding injuries.
Appropriate protective gear is essential for safety when skating and skate-boarding. Protective gear includes wrist guards, knee pads, gloves and elbow pads have been known to prevent injuries. These protective devices are designed to absorb the impact of a fall, avoid gravel burns and scrapes as well as fractured and broken bones. This legislation will significantly reduce the number of injuries if protective gear is worn thereby decreasing the likelihood of hospital visits and its associated medical expenses.
Prior legislative history
2016: S.825A - AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO CONSUMER PROTECTION 2015: S.825 - REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION 2014: S.794 - Amend and Recommit to Consumer Protection 2013: S.794 - Referred to Consumer Protection 2012: S.123A - Amend and Recommit to Consumer Protection 2011: S.123 -Defeated in Consumer Protection 2010: S.3642 - Referred to Consumer Protection 2009: S.3642 - Reported and Committed to Codes/A.4285A Passed Assembly 2007-08: A.437 - Passed Assembly 2005-06: A.686B - Reported Referred to Codes
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
This act shall take effect one year after enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.