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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR SCORC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/3/07.

2/16/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Define Permissible Fireworks

SB 267/aSPAC/aSCORC

ANALYST Wilson

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

$0.1

$0.1

$0.1 Recurring Fire Protection

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Energy Minerals & Natural Resources (EMNRD)

Public Regulation Commission (PRC)

Regulation & Licensing Department (RLD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SCORC Amendment

The Senate Corporations & Transportation Committee amendment for Senate Bill 267deletes the

requirement that the state fire marshal must maintain a list of permissible fireworks for sale in

New Mexico.

The amendment also adds to the definition of “wildlands" the requirement that the lands must be

owned by the governing body of a county or municipality and lands must be designated for

public recreational purposes.

Synopsis of SPAC Amendment

The Senate Public Affairs Committee amendment for Senate Bill 267 permits the state fire

marshal’s office to charge a $20 replacement fee.

The amendment also clarifies that sales clerks and ancillary personnel employed at temporary

retail locations where fireworks are sold can be volunteering their services, but they still must be

at least sixteen years of age.

Senate Bill 267/aSPAC/aSCORC Page

2

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 267 provides cleanup language and amends portions of the Fireworks Licensing and

Safety Act. The bill requires the State Fire Marshal to compile and maintain a list of permissible

fire works and annually transmit the list to each licensed wholesaler before January 1st. The

licensed wholesaler is required to review the list and update the list according to the permissible

fireworks the wholesaler currently holds for sale and certify the list to the State Fire Marshal.

The State Fire Marshal shall transmit the completed list to all local fire chiefs and fire marshals

in the state, as well as prescribe any rules, forms and instructions necessary to implement these

requirements.

The bill adds aerial shell kit-reloadable tubes and multiple tube devices to the compliment of

devices that are permissible and removes toy smoke devices from this list. The bill changes the

inside diameter of stick type rockets in the types of fireworks that are not permissible and adds

fireworks intended for sale to the public that produce an audible effect, other than a whistle, by a

charge of more than one hundred thirty milligrams of explosive composition per report.

The bill adds language stating all places where fireworks are stored, sold or displayed shall be in

compliance with the code of safety standards published by the National Fire Protection

Association for the manufacture, transportation, storage and retail sales of fireworks and

pyrotechnics articles. Additionally, sales clerks and ancillary personnel at retail locations must

be at least sixteen years of age.

In addition to state forest land, wild lands or a Bosque are included as locations where fireworks

cannot be sold or used.

The bill adds a new section regarding theatrical pyrotechnics articles. This new section requires

all places where theatrical pyrotechnics articles are manufactured, stored, sold or displayed shall

be in compliance with the code of safety standards published by the national fire protection

association for the use of pyrotechnics before a proximate audience.

The bill includes an emergency clause

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) states there is no significant fiscal impact. Currently a

portion of the receipts collected from the sale of regulated fireworks are earmarked for the Fire

Protection Fund. After distributions are made to the fire districts the remainder is reverted to the

general fund. The revisions and additions to current statute from SB267 do not affect sales,

which are based on economic activity within the market.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The bill will require the SFMO to compile and distribute lists provided by the manufacturers and

represent them as legal products. The SFMO will have no way of knowing if a product, listed

only by name, is indeed a legal product without conducting expensive lab analysis of each

product. Between all the manufacturers the number of products to be tested could be in the tens

of thousands.

Senate Bill 267/aSPAC/aSCORC Page

3

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The State Forester works to coordinate fire restrictions with federal agencies, counties and

municipalities, to the greatest extent possible, so that fire and law enforcement agencies can

work together and citizens could have access to the technical information on what is banned.

The State Forestry Division (SFD) responds to numerous public inquiries during the fire season

explaining what is permissible and banned.

This bill will not significantly change the SFD’s role.

The SFMO will be required to implement the provisions of this bill. Under Significant Issues the

SFMO claimed that he might have to test tens of thousands of products.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

EMNRD provided the following:

Section 60-2C-8 (I) states that no fireworks shall be used or sold on state forest land, wild

lands or a Bosque. The definition of wild land includes all lands covered wholly or in

part by timber, brush or native grass. This will include the Bosque. This definition

prevents even public displays in state parks. In addition, except for forested state trust

lands and forested land within state parks, the state does not own forest lands. There are

no “State Forests" similar to the National Forests managed by the US Forest Service.

Therefore, if the intent of the bill is to prevent the use of fireworks in state owned or

managed lands, “state" should be removed from paragraph (I) and the sentence should be

revised to read: “Except for public fireworks displays approved by the governmental

entity with jurisdiction over the land, no fireworks shall be sold or used on state owned or

managed lands."

If the intent is to prevent the use of fireworks in wild land areas including forest lands

and the Bosque Section 60-2C-8(I) should be amended to read: ‘Except for public

fireworks displays approved by the governmental entity with jurisdiction over the land,

no fireworks shall be sold or used on wild lands." If there is concern that Bosque is not

specifically referenced the definition of wild land could be amended to read “wild lands

mean lands covered wholly in part by trees, brush or native grass".

DW/mt