LINCOLN — Liberalizing the state’s fireworks testing laws could bring Nebraska a fiscal bang, state lawmakers were told Wednesday.
State Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah said Nebraskans would buy many more fireworks here if dealers were allowed to sell the same fireworks as those sold in stands just across the border in Missouri and South Dakota.
“The more things we sell, the more revenue we get from retailers,” Rogert said.
The fireworks would be no more powerful than those currently sold in the Cornhusker State, but Rogert’s bills would allow a much wider variety of fireworks to be sold here, said officials with the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Nebraska Fireworks Dealers Association.
The bills also would legalize fireworks sales during the New Year’s holiday and expand sales to July 5, as a buffer against bad weather on July 4.
Under current law, only fireworks that have been tested, approved and listed by the State Fire Marshal’s Office may be sold in the state.
That’s a cumbersome requirement that costs about $18,000 a year and duplicates testing done in China under the supervision of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said Marvin Kohler of Grand Island, president of the fireworks retailers group.
“This testing is no longer needed,” Kohler said.
Craig Hamre of Oxford, Neb., a fireworks dealer who used to operate in South Dakota, said Nebraska dealers are at a competitive disadvantage because they can sell only fireworks on the approved state list. That disqualifies dozens of other products sold in neighboring states, he said.
When asked what would be different, Hamre said that fireworks that shoot off many more aerial shells would be allowed.
But, he added, those individual shells would have no more explosive powder than shells already sold to consumers in Nebraska.
“They’re not any less safe, they just look bigger,” Hamre said.
Regina Shields, legal counsel for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, testified in general support for the two bills, Legislative Bills 880 and 881.
She said the office can use its employees in much better ways than testing fireworks.
The Fire Marshal’s Office and fireworks dealers agree that bottle rockets should be banned, as well as steel-handled sparklers, Shields said.
Hot sparklers cause more injuries than other fireworks, Rogert said, a comment seconded by Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill.
“I was burned by one, so I hate those,” McGill said.
Only one opponent testified: Amy Prenda, a lobbyist for Shelton Fireworks, an Eagleville, Mo., wholesaler that operates a big retail facility in Rockport, Mo., about 60 miles south of Omaha.
Prenda said Shelton thinks that Nebraska should keep its testing program.
That brought a hearty laugh from an audience filled with Nebraska dealers who support dropping the state tests.
The lobbyist, however, added that if Nebraska changes its laws, it ought to drop laws that currently make it illegal for Nebraskans to transport fireworks from Missouri or South Dakota.
@Agate 10.9:
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
