April 2, 2007
By Mary Beth Schneider
The Indiana House voted 69-27 today to restrict when and where people can shoot off fireworks.
Currently, people can shoot off fireworks and firecrackers 365 days a year, under a law passed last year.
But complaints about noise and the damage caused by errant bottle-rockets prompted lawmkers to crack down. Under Senate Bill 5, people could shoot off fireworks only eight days a year, including New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, the Fourth of July and days surrounding the Independence Day holiday.
Local government would have the power to further restrict the shooting of fireworks on any other day of the year.
Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, and Rep. Phyllis Pond, R-Fort Wayne, pulled out a boxful of fireworks and displayed them at the front of the House, as other lawmakers laughed and joked.
But Moses and Pond told their colleagues that the fireworks have become a menace, and that local government should have the right to restrict when and where people use them.
Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said he opposed the bill because he'd like to simply ban the fireworks, noting that a child in his area recently blew off some fingers after finding and lighting a firework that her family had purchased a couple years ago.
Rep. Dave Frizzell, the Indianapolis Republican who had led the 2006 fight to legalize fireworks, urged his colleagues to defeat the bill. He and Rep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, both said that letting local government pass laws restricting fireworks would create a confusing quilt of laws that could lead to someone getting in trouble simply because they bought the fireworks in one location and shot them off elsewhere, not realizing that the laws were different there.
The bill now returns to the Senate. If that chamber concurs with changes made in the House -- which cut the allowable days for fireworks from 12 to eight, the bill will go to Gov. Mitch Daniels for his decision on whether to sign the measure into law or veto it
By Mary Beth Schneider
The Indiana House voted 69-27 today to restrict when and where people can shoot off fireworks.
Currently, people can shoot off fireworks and firecrackers 365 days a year, under a law passed last year.
But complaints about noise and the damage caused by errant bottle-rockets prompted lawmkers to crack down. Under Senate Bill 5, people could shoot off fireworks only eight days a year, including New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, the Fourth of July and days surrounding the Independence Day holiday.
Local government would have the power to further restrict the shooting of fireworks on any other day of the year.
Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, and Rep. Phyllis Pond, R-Fort Wayne, pulled out a boxful of fireworks and displayed them at the front of the House, as other lawmakers laughed and joked.
But Moses and Pond told their colleagues that the fireworks have become a menace, and that local government should have the right to restrict when and where people use them.
Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said he opposed the bill because he'd like to simply ban the fireworks, noting that a child in his area recently blew off some fingers after finding and lighting a firework that her family had purchased a couple years ago.
Rep. Dave Frizzell, the Indianapolis Republican who had led the 2006 fight to legalize fireworks, urged his colleagues to defeat the bill. He and Rep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, both said that letting local government pass laws restricting fireworks would create a confusing quilt of laws that could lead to someone getting in trouble simply because they bought the fireworks in one location and shot them off elsewhere, not realizing that the laws were different there.
The bill now returns to the Senate. If that chamber concurs with changes made in the House -- which cut the allowable days for fireworks from 12 to eight, the bill will go to Gov. Mitch Daniels for his decision on whether to sign the measure into law or veto it