A Good Fireworks Bill Passes the House

A sensible and good fireworks bill passed the Texas House today.  Rep Wayne Smith introduced a bill that would allow the transport of fireworks through municipalities provided they are in their original and unopened packaging:

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HB01727H.htm

This will curtail much of the harrassment fireworks fans suffer from cities.  Corpus Christi, Texas is infamous for confiscating fireworks shipments travelling through their city.  El Paso and other towns create “blockades” to prevent fireworks from passing through town.

On to the Senate!

Good things are happening and it’s raining!

New Hampshire Store Photos

Our store is *almost* there.  Just need one more permit (out of 6!) and we’re open… Well, we’re then allowed to put fireworks in the building.  Here are some photos of the place.  The signage looks great and very professional.  Something to be proud of after 18 months of work!

Inside the store.  Notice lots of room for fireworks!

Texas County Affairs Fireworks Hearing Notes

Thanks to everyone who participated reaching out to the members of the County Affairs committee last week.  At this point in the session, a phone call or fax from a voter means much more than anything I or a fireman can say at a hearing.

The hearing on Monday got started late (yea, a shocker).  In the House committees, it is standard practice to hear all bills in a given week and then vote on them at the beginning of the next week’s hearing.  So, the meeting began with all of the members in attendance, voting on the bills from the previous week.  After that, they began the actual hearing and many members departed.

You can see the video here:

http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/broadcasts.php?session=81&committeeCode=210

On a positive note, you can see the members not really buying that counties should be able to ban fireworks any time they think there’s a “disaster” with no process and no advance notice.  One county judge testified that he wanted more “local control.”  That argument does not go well with these members.

We, the industry, did a great job of pointing out two factors with fireworks:

1) Counties don’t know what causes fires in Texas.  70% of grassfires are from unknown causes.
2) Fireworks cause less than 1% of fires in our state each year.

The “usual suspects” of fireworks haters were there:  Mike Montgomery from Harris, the Midland, Bexar and Denton fire marshals.  Comal took the cake with 5 salaried or elected officials there.  I am glad I don’t pay taxes in their county.  Bexar was a close second with 2.

Rep Lucio III from the Valley was impressive during his bill discussion.  The good thing about his bill is that the fireworks people in large don’t like it and the counties really hate it.  That’s often the start of a good compromise.

I had to leave about 6pm, so I didn’t catch the end of the hearing.  Over the next week, we’ll continue to see what develops as the capitol office gets worked.  We’ll keep you posted.  Good news is that the session is 5 weeks from over.  Bad news is that unless we fix the disaster declaration situation, this session will be a failure for those of us in all areas except for the greenest parts of the state.

Nevada / Pahrump Fireworks Shooter’s Site Upgrade

The Nye County (Nevada) Commissioners just passed a new ordinance unanimously for our Shooter’s Site in Nevada and 40 miles outside of Pahrump, NV. Southern California and Nevada fireworks fans now have a place to buy and shoot fireworks legally.

Our Shooter’s Site is now available year round for small groups (<10) while our store is open. Larger shoots require us to notify the fire dept but we can do them any time. We’ll welcome fireworks shoots for any larger groups, just call us to set it up.  The Site may only be used while we are open and you are under supervision of our staff on duty.

We do charge a $4 admission fee, portions of which get donated to the Amargosa volunteer fire department.

Thanks to everyone who wrote and called and emailed and faxed to get this done over the past 8 months.  Any questions, please call our Amargosa Valley, Nevada store.

We’ve also upgraded the site with signange and a permanent fence.

New Hampshire Fireworks Store Photos!

We’re almost complete.  It’s been a wild ride during 18 months of work from property acquisition to permitting to selecting a contractor to finding the money to pay for it to the final touches now,

At over 7,500 sq feet, this is the largest and nicest fireworks store in the New England area.  We’ll have tons of space to fill with great product for northeastern fireworks fans.

We’ll have some sweet channel letter signage on the front of the store and not just a white building.  The parking lot will handle 50+ cars.  Our biggest (and bluest) store yet!  NOTE: I am informed that the store is truly gray but it looks blue to me.

Here are some photos of the store almost ready to go.  We expect to be open early May.

Texas House County Affairs: Help Defeat Anti-Fireworks Bills

We need your help to defeat most of these anti-fireworks bills to be heard on Monday in the Texas House County Affairs Committee!  Any calls need to be made TOMORROW Friday the 17th, 2009!

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/schedules/html/C2102009042014001.htm

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call or Fax the representatives on the committee.  Ask your friends, operators and co-workers to call and fax as well.  Do not fax multiple copies of the same letter repeatedly.  One personal letter is equivalent to a hundred photocopies.

Suggested message: These Anti-Fireworks bills are designed solely to run the small businesspeople and fundraising non-profits and families out of business.  You’re against these anti-fireworks bills but support HB 4625 (Lucio) and HB 499 (Hughes).

(4625 covers how counties may deal with drought.  More detail below on this one.  499 allows fireworks sales for Texas Independence Day.)

You can also attend and register to speak.  Or, just register against the bills.  Groups, operators, employees — all welcome.  The county will have a ton of (salaried) people paid to be there.  We need to be out in force!

WHOM TO CONTACT:
Representative Garnet Coleman (Chair)
(512) 463-0524
(512) 463-1260 Fax

Representative Geanie Morrison (Vice-Chair)
(512) 463-0456
(512) 476-3933 Fax

Representative Leo Berman
(512) 463-0584
(512) 463-3217 Fax

Representative Valinda Bolton
(512) 463-0652
(512) 463-0565 Fax

Representative Joaquin Castro
(512) 463-0669
(512) 463-5074 Fax

Representative John E. Davis
(512) 463-0734
(512) 479-6955 Fax

Representative Marisa Marquez
(512) 463-0638
(512) 463-8908 Fax

Representative Ralph Sheffield
(512)463-0630
(512)322-9054 Fax

Representative Wayne Smith
(512) 463-0733
(512) 463-1323 Fax

ABOUT HB 4625 (Lucio):
The originally posted version of this bill has been changed to be more in line with the fireworks industry wishes. A committee substitute is expected to be introduced at the meeting on Monday.  We don’t see the final version until it’s back from legislative counsel.

This bill does a bunch of things but highlights:
* Deletes 418.108i (the disaster provision that’s closing us now).
* Increases the KBDI number for a flying firework ban (stick rockets, missilies and helicopter items) to 630.  (We the removal of pop rockets from the market, we can raise this number.)  They can only ban the sale of stick rockets and flying items above 630 KBDI — nothing else.
* Allows the county to restrict fireworks use in times of drought (>630) to barren areas with no “fuel” for fire.  Right now, someone can be shooting a roman candle into a field of dry grass and the county can’t write them a ticket.
* The bill requires a County Commissioner Court meeting take place in order to place a restriction on the sale and use of fireworks.  Current law does not require a meeting and the sole decision on whether or not to shut down an industry is left to the discretion of the County Judge.  They have to do any actions 30 days prior to our opening and their restrictions can last for 60 days or until the KBDI is down below 630.

Thanks for your help!

Texas House Fireworks Hearing Monday 4/20/2009 2pm

The Texas House of Representatives County Affairs Committee is meeting on Monday to consider some of the proposed fireworks bills:

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/schedules/html/C2102009042014001.htm

ALL are invited to attend and speak.  The more, the merrier!

I’ll be doing a follow on post with my thoughts on these bills and a request to make phone calls/faxes.

(Cliffnotes: we hate most of them.  ;-))

Success on SB 1390!

SB 1390 is stopped in committee.  If they’d have taken a vote, we guess it was going to be 4-1 against.  Many of the committee members are disappointed in the county folks, so that’s a good thing.

Here’s an audio brief of the hearing.  It’s broken into two parts:

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/commit/c520/c520.htm

Thanks to everyone for help on this one. Trust me, this is just the first of many so I’ll keep you posted on developments!  There are about a dozen anti-fireworks bills on tap (and two pro-fireworks bills).

MG

Our new Fireworks in Pahrump, NV Billboard

Due to the recession, we got a great deal on a billboard coming into Pahrump, NV for our fireworks store in Amargosa Valley, Nevada.  Here is a photo:

Pahrump Fireworks Billboard