Jim Rosica
State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, often out front on children’s issues, filed legislation this week to ban kids from tanning salons and make playgrounds safer.
The Hollywood Democrat, who chairs the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committee, filed SB 406 on Thursday and SB 414 on Friday, Senate records show.
The playground bill would force new and rehabbed public playgrounds to comply with international and federal safety guidelines, including on fencing, shading and ground surfacing.
“More than 200,000 children each year are injured severely enough on playgrounds to necessitate a trip to a hospital … and between 5 and 15 children die as a result of dangerous or defective playgrounds,” the bill noted.
Child development experts, though, have argued against making play areas too safe, saying kids “need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground.”
A 2011 New York Times article questioned “the value of safety-first playgrounds.”
“Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — critics say these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone,” the story said.
The tanning bill, or “Preventing Youth Skin Cancer Act,” bans anyone under 18 from tanning at salons unless “prescribed by a health care provider to treat a medical condition.”
Sobel, whose husband is a dermatologist, has been introducing a version of the bill for several years.
Violating the proposed law means a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in a county jail, though it’s not clear whether that includes the store’s owners or just salon workers.
Sobel couldn’t be reached at her district office on Friday.
The American Tanning Association, the industry’s trade group, has opposed the bill in the past, saying parents and not government should decide whether their children can use a tanning facility. FloridaPolitics.com is awaiting the organization’s comment on this year’s legislation.
