S-3843.3 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6235
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senators Hargrove, Snyder, Pelz and Drew
Read first time 01/17/94. Referred to Committee on Health & Human Services.
AN ACT Relating to artificial turf; adding a new section to Title 70 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the incidence and severity of unintentional sports injuries have been significantly reduced by regulations that improve the safety of playing fields or that protect players who have accidents. Football helmets and pads, baseball batting helmets, catchers protection, hockey goalie padding and masks, padded football goal posts, and more do not reduce the incidence of accidents, but significantly reduce injuries by protecting players from trauma.
The legislature finds that these public health and safety measures have greatly reduced both the cost of injuries and the pain and suffering experienced by youth, adults, their family members, and sports fans.
The legislature further finds that the cost of maintaining safe and natural turf may be offset by savings to sports teams and families in the form of reduced medical bills, increased years of productive participation in sports by young or highly paid, contract athletes, and by increased enjoyment in watching athletes cope with the challenges provided by the interaction of natural turf and the weather.
Finally, the legislature finds that natural turf provides several environmental benefits over artificial turf, including a reduction in the toxic by-products from the artificial turf manufacturing process and increased oxygen production from grass.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to Title 70 RCW to read as follows:
It is unlawful to play a sanctioned sport that is traditionally played on grass such as football, soccer, baseball, field hockey, and other sports, including sports at the high school, college, and university level, professional sports, and amateur sports, on a surface other than grass. Owners and operators of sports fields larger than fifteen thousand square feet are strictly liable for injuries that occur on fields that are not in compliance with this section. "Sanctioned sport" for the purpose of this section means a sport that is endorsed or regulated by a political entity, including K-12 schools or institutions of higher education, by nonprofit organizations, associations, or corporations, or by professional sports organizations.
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