Senate Bill 1004, sponsored by Republican state Sen. John Kavanagh, is intended to curb the "unlawful release of balloons." Should it pass, it would bar any adult from intentionally releasing 10 or more balloons filled with lighter-than-air gas. A violation would be considered a petty offense and carry a fine. Exceptions are made for meteorological balloons, hot air balloons and balloons released indoors.
So all those gender-reveal parties that flood the skies with pink and blue dots? Consider them on notice.
“They wouldn’t be able to do that," Kavanagh said in a phone interview with Phoenix New Times. "They’d have to find some other way to release their gender position. Or they could just get long string and pretend they did it.”
Balloon safety has not been a long-gestating issue for Kavanagh, who represents a district that includes parts of north Scottsdale. It only came to his attention after he began receiving several automated emails from groups asking him to address the issue. Initially, he said, "it didn’t really make too much sense to me for Arizona." But then he spoke to the cattle ranchers.
Kavanagh said cattle rancher organizations in California pushed for a similar law because farm animals sometimes consume downed balloons. Indeed, California has a law outlawing the release of mylar balloons, which carries a misdemeanor penalty. Kavanagh said he consulted with members of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association about an Arizona version of the law, adding that the text of the law is more or less unchanged from how it was submitted to him by groups lobbying for the law.
Arizona Cattle Growers Association President Mike Gannuscio said he hasn't spoken with Kavanagh about the bill nor read its text, and is hesitant to offer an opinion. But he did say that it's not uncommon for livestock to be killed after ingesting balloons that fall to the ground.
“I have stuff that flies on my ranch all the time, and I do have cattle that die from it from time to time," Gannuscio said. "My calves, they’re like puppies — they’re curious and they have to play with everything, especially if it’s not what they normally see."
State Sen. John Kavanagh said speaking to cattle ranchers convinced him to sponsor a bill about the unlawful release of balloons.
Miriam Wasser
‘I hate seeing them’
Gannuscio hasn't had issues with commercially available balloons, but he did have one cow die after ingesting a weather balloon that fell on his ranch north of Kingman. He said he's found four or five meteorological balloons, which are excepted under Kavanagh's proposed bill, on that ranch.“I hate seeing them out there. It drives me crazy," Gannuscio said, though he added that "I don’t know if I would go to the legislature and ask them to work on a law" to ban them.
Kavanagh's law is broader than California's — all balloon types are covered, not just those "constructed of electrically conductive material," which California bans — and also less severe. Kavanagh said he lowered the proposed penalty to just a fine rather than a misdemeanor.
"Even though Democrats are big into the environment, with their total aversion to the prison pipeline, I knew if I kept it as a crime, they’d all vote against it," he said. "I think it serves the same educational and deterrent function.”
Kavanagh feels good about his bill's chances of passing. He's sponsored plenty of controversial bills before, including a redux for next year of his 2024 bill attempting to bar transgender people from using the bathrooms that match their gender identities. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed that bill once and will likely do so again if the 2025 version passes.
But Kavanagh expects the balloon bill to, uh, float through the process. "Once I get environmentalists and the cattle industry for it, it’s going to pass," he said. He won't be deflated by the jokes he knows he's going to get along the way.
"I will no doubt get some jokes made about me and hot air balloons and what have you, but that comes with the turf," Kavanagh said. "All publicity is good unless you’re in handcuffs in this game.”
