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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
REVISED
fireworks; aerials; licensure; penalties
Purpose
Requires a person selling multiple tube aerial devices as specified to obtain a license from the Office of the State Fire Marshal (State Fire Marshal) annually. Requires a wholesaler that is offering permissible consumer fireworks to permanent or temporary seasonal retailers at wholesale to annually register with the State Fire Marshal using a form prescribed by the State Fire Marshal. Subjects a person who violates prohibitions on the sale of fireworks to a civil penalty of $5,000.
Background
Fireworks are any combustible or explosive composition, substance or combination of substances, or any article prepared for the purpose of producing a visible or audible effect by combustion, explosion, deflagration or detonation, that is a consumer firework or display firework. Fireworks do not include permissible consumer fireworks (A.R.S. § 36-1601).
Permissible consumer fireworks are the following types of consumer fireworks: 1) ground and handheld sparkling devices; 2) cylindrical fountains; 3) cone fountains; 4) illuminating torches; 5) wheels; 6) ground spinners; 7) flitter sparklers; 8) toy smoke devices; 9) wire sparklers or dipped sticks; or 10) multiple tube ground and handheld sparkling devices, cylindrical fountains, cone fountains and illuminating torches. Permissible consumer fireworks include, in a county with a population of more than 500,000 persons, adult snappers. Permissible consumer fireworks do not include anything that is designed or intended to rise into the air and explode or to detonate in the air or to fly above the ground, including firework items known as firecrackers, bottle rockets, sky rockets, missile-type rockets, helicopters, aerial spinners, torpedoes, roman candles, mine devices, shell devices and aerial shell kits or reloadable tubes (A.R.S. § 36-1601).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires a person selling multiple tube aerial to annually obtain a license from the State Fire Marshal.
2. Subjects a person who violates prohibitions on the sale of fireworks to a civil penalty of $5,000.
3. Requires State Fire Marshal to establish the annual licensing fee.
4. Requires the State Fire Marshal to seize, remove or cause to be removed, at the expense of the owner, all fireworks or combustibles offered or exposed for sale, stored or possessed in violation of firework restrictions.
5. Permits sale of multiple tube aerial devices only from a temporary consumer fireworks retail stand as outlined.
6. Prohibits an individual who receives three violations within a 36 month period from holding a license for five years.
7. Requires a wholesaler that is offering permissible consumer fireworks to permanent or temporary seasonal retailers at wholesale to annually register with the State Fire Marshal using a form prescribed by the State Fire Marshal.
8. Exempts a person from needing a license to sell permissible consumer firework items, other than outlined items, if the seller's location complies with regulations relating to the storage of consumer firework and to the retail sales of consumer fireworks before selling the permissible consumer fireworks to the public.
9. Requires State Fire Marshal to establish an annual wholesaler registration fee.
10. Prohibits a person from selling, allowing or authorizing the sale of permissible consumer fireworks to a person who is under 18, instead of 16, years of age.
11. Prohibits the sale of permissible consumer fireworks in tents, canopies or membrane structures.
12. Increases, from $1,000 to $5,000, the penalty for using fireworks on preservation lands owned by a city or town that has purchased more than 15,000 acres of land for the preservation purposes.
13. Adds novelty flitter sparklets to the list of federally deregulated novelty items under the definition of fireworks.
14. Adds multiple tube aerial devices, excluding single-shot devices or reloadable aerial shells, to the definition of permissible consumer fireworks.
15. Excludes multiple tube aerial devices, excluding single-shot devices or reloadable aerial shells, from outlined items that are not considered permissible consumer fireworks.
16. Removes mine devices and shell devices from outlined items that are not considered permissible consumer fireworks.
17. Makes technical and conforming changes.
18. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Revisions
ˇ Corrects certain provisions to clarify when requirements apply to multiple tube aerial devices only, or all permissible consumer fireworks.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 14, 2024
ZD/KK/cs