Balloon ban fails in the Senate
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A proposal to ban the sale of helium-filled Mylar balloons in California ran out of air Monday in the state Senate, where it fell five votes short of passing.
Sen. Jack Scott (D- Altadena) proposed the ban at the request of Burbank electric utility officials who said the metallic balloons have caused several power outages after becoming tangled in power lines.
“I’m not a party pooper,” Scott told his colleagues. “I’m not standing up and speaking out against balloons in general. This is a public safety matter.”
Opponents of the measure said it overreached and could harm the balloon industry.
Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) said he had not seen evidence that the balloons were a major problem: “They really don’t cause the trouble to warrant shutting down an entire portion of business in California.”
-- Patrick McGreevy
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