A proposal moving forward in the Arizona legislature would restrict the use of consumer fireworks.
The Senate Commerce Committee voted 7-2 to advance SB 1275, which would limit the time of day when people can use fireworks.
The bill would allow cities, towns, and counties to prohibit the use of consumer fireworks between 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. most days of the year. The exceptions would be on December 31 going into January 1 and July 4 going into July 5, when it would be allowed until 1:00 a.m.
State Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, filed the bill after hearing complaints from constituents about firework use when people are trying to sleep.
“I had lots and lots of neighbors reach out to me and talk about fireworks and talk about the burden that it’s putting on our community,” he said in a committee meeting on February 2.
“It really does disturb the peace in the middle of the night,” he later added. “A lot of people have to go to work in the morning, and they’re woken up by these things.”
Arizona Humane Society spokesperson Bretta Nelson said that using fireworks overnight is bad for pets.
“It’s not uncommon to see when those fireworks start going off that pets get scared,” she said. “They start jumping fences, dig out under fences, and it becomes such a situation for the pet, for the pet owner, and also for animal shelters across the country. This is something we see every year.”
State senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, voted against the proposal; she did not think that a new law was necessary to fix the problem.
“Is there not like noise ordinances that would take care of that,“ she said.
Republished with the permission of The Center Square
