TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas legislators are accelerating work on stricter regulations for amusement park rides following the death last summer of a lawmaker’s 10-year-old son on a giant waterslide.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require owners of permanent amusement rides to have them inspected annually by a professional engineer. Ride operators and patrons would be required to report serious injuries to the state.
The committee’s voice vote sends the bill to the House for debate on a track possibly allowing both chambers to approve it next week.
The state’s requirement for parks to self-inspect rides annually came under scrutiny after Rep. Scott Schwab’s 10-year-old son, Caleb, was killed on Schlitterbahn Waterpark’s Verruckt waterslide in Kansas City, Kansas. It was billed as the world’s tallest.
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