BOWLING CENTER IMMUNITY S.B. 281 (S-1): FLOOR SUMMARY
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Senate Bill 281 (Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Joe Hune
Committee: Judiciary

CONTENT
The bill would create the "Bowling Center Act" to require a bowling center operator to post a specific notice about the danger of wearing bowling shoes outside, and provide the operator with immunity from civil liability for injuries to a bowler due to a slip and fall inside the bowling center that resulted from outside use of bowling shoes.


Specifically, the bill would require a bowling center operator to post a notice in a conspicuous place near each entrance to and exit from a bowling center. The notice would have to read:

"Bowling shoes are specialized footwear and are not intended to be worn outside a bowling center because the bowling shoes may be affected by substances or materials such as snow, ice, rain, moisture, food, or debris. Such substances or materials on bowling shoes that have been worn outside a bowling center may cause the person wearing the bowling shoes to slip, trip, stumble, or fall on the floor or alley surfaces in the bowling center."


If an operator posted the required notice, the operator would not be civilly liable for injuries to a bowler resulting from a slip, trip, stumble, or fall inside the bowing center substantially caused by a substance or material on the bowler's bowling shoes that was acquired outside the bowling center immediately before the bowler entered or re-entered the bowling center.


This protection from liability would not apply if the operator's liability resulted from willful or wanton misconduct or if the operator failed to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition and the condition substantially caused the injury to the bowler.


The bill would apply only to a cause of action that accrued on or after January 1, 2012.

Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter

FISCAL IMPACT
The bill could have a negligible impact on the court system if it resulted in fewer lawsuits.


Date Completed: 6-7-11 Fiscal Analyst: Matthew Grabowski

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb281/1112