PANAMA CITY BEACH — A bill that would regulate commercial parasailing in Florida cleared another committee hurdle Wednesday and could soon be on its way to the Senate floor.
Sponsored by Sen. Maria Sachs, D- Delray Beach, SB 320 outlines safety regulations for the industry, including imposed weather restrictions and minimum insurance requirements for parasail operators.
“The regulations are ‘common sense’ regulations,” Sachs testified to the Senate Community Affairs Committee Wednesday. “When I asked the parasail operators what is it we can do to continue the thrill of the game and minimize the risk, they all said the same thing: it’s the weather.”
Sachs said regulating the weather conditions in which parasail boats can operate would make the sport safer for customers of the more than 150 parasail operators in Florida.
Also known as the “White-Miskell Act,” the bill is named for two women who died in separate Pompano Beach parasailing accidents in 2007 and 2012.
Pompano Beach Mayor Lamar Fisher also addressed the committee, and said the city has worked tirelessly alongside Sachs to regulate parasailing.
“The city of Pompano Beach, unfortunately, has had two deaths from parasailing,” Fisher said. “We are asking and begging for your support today.”
The committee approved the bill unanimously and a formal request has been made to have the bill read on the Senate floor before the session ends in early May.
“What we’re waiting for now is for them to actually calendar it,” Sachs said Thursday. “I think it’s going to be soon.”
Two previous bills to regulate parasailing that have failed to pass in past years. A new bill was re-filed in November, months after another parasailing accident in Panama City Beach injured two Indiana teens.
“It’s one of our Florida favorite water sports,” said Sachs, noting support from the Parasail Safety Council and the water sport industry. “We have about 150 operators throughout the state, but we have very few substantive regulations, which have resulted in serious injuries and deaths.”
An identical bill in the Florida House will need to be approved by the Regulatory Affairs Committee before moving to the House floor. The committee has not yet placed the bill on the calendar.