Congress fails to pass vital pool safety legislation
Posted by
Staff WriterJanuary 21, 2007 10:27 AMPool Safety - Congress fails to pass vital pool safety legislation.
Every year, about 250 children under age 5 drown in America's swimming pools, and 1 of every 5 kids -- nearly 12 million under the age of 15 -- suffer injuries that require medical attention.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board Comment on the situation.
Posted January 6 2007
Every year, about 250 children under age 5 drown in America's swimming pools, and 1 of every 5 kids -- nearly 12 million under the age of 15 -- suffer injuries that require medical attention.
The real tragedy is that drowning, the second leading cause of child deaths, is wholly preventable. So who wouldn't want to cut the risks and save lives?
Apparently, 108 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who voted down a vital bill in the waning hours of the lame-duck 109th Congress that called for strict safety codes for pools and spas.
The measure had such promise, too. The no-brainer, incentive-based bill was championed by former Secretary of State James Baker, whose 7-year-old granddaughter drowned after she got caught in a pool drain. The Senate was receptive. And despite her freshman status in the then-minority party, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, managed to get the bill heard on the session's last day.
It wasn't enough. When the bill came up for a vote, it was 2:53 a.m. and much of the body had already left for home. It failed by nine votes.
Thanks to Wasserman Schultz's efforts in the state Legislature, Florida is lucky to already have some of the most aggressive pool-safety codes in the nation, requiring safety fences, alarms, drain covers and other life-saving precautions in all new pools and spas.
But critical gaps remain. For example, only pools and spas built after July 2001 must have drain covers and other equipment designed to prevent swimmers from getting caught and pulled under. That left 750,000 older Florida pools unaffected. The Pool and Spa Safety Act would have closed that gap, adding a retrofitting requirement that all pools in participating states have entrapment-prevention devices.
The good news is Wasserman Schultz won't give up. Aided by her new leadership role as a chief deputy whip, she will reintroduce the bill. The chance is good that a re-energized 110th Congress will recognize the vital need to pass it.
BOTTOM LINE: Pass the bill next time.