Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow firework sales year-round, a move that could help small businesses and the state’s coffers collect more revenue.
The Senate Commerce Committee held a Tuesday hearing on Senate Bill 378, which expands the existing season for firework sales around the Fourth of July while also permitting year-round retail sales.
The bill was introduced at the request of Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, who said constituents Sarah Beagel and Brent Aiello had approached her to ask for the legislation.
“This isn’t for the big business people,” Tyson said. “This is literally for the mom and pops. And I appreciate you guys reaching out. This is how the process is supposed to work.”
Beagel and Aiello are co-owners and operators of Aiello Firework, an Allen County business with locations in Moran and Gas.
“We hear all the time people say that they do travel across state lines, especially in areas such as southeast Kansas,” Beagel said. “Where where we live, we’re 45 minutes from the Missouri border. I have people every season tell me that, yeah, I went over to Missouri around New Years to get some fireworks because we just like to blow some stuff up.”
The committee worked a similar bill in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the Legislature. Emergency personnel successfully lobbied to removing a provision that would have lifted the statewide ban on bottle rockets.
“For us as retailers, it’s just sad to see us lose so much revenue to our surrounding states for things that we can sell already,” Beagel said. She suggested that retailers and the state government would see additional revenue.
It is unclear how much additional revenue state and local governments could rake in.
A fiscal note prepared by the governor’s budget office with input from the fire marshal, Kansas Association of Counties and the League of Kansas Municipalities indicates the bill would have either a negligible effect on finances, or the effect would be impossible to estimate.
Kyle Hamilton, an assistant reviser of statutes, said current law authorizes the State Fire Marshal to designate the annual firework season through rules and regulations. The existing season is June 27 and ends July 5.
The bill “would override that current regulation,” Hamilton said. “The new language would define firework season for seasonal retailers as June 15 through July 6, and for annual retailers as Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.”
The proposal would take retail fireworks season from about one week to three weeks. Seasonal retailers are not required to be licensed by the state — though local officials can — and that would not change under the bill. Annual retailers would need a state license, which would be good for two years.
“The new annual license would be through our office, but we don’t intend to charge for it,” said State Fire Marshal Doug Jorgensen. “We’ve looked at other states that have annual sales. We don’t feel it’ll be adding that much of a burden to our regular responsibilities.”
The bill also allows cities and counties to prohibit all fireworks sales. They also can establish a fireworks season different from the dates that would be codified in state statute.
“Cities and counties can now completely prohibit the sale and use of fireworks in their in their areas if they choose to,” Jorgensen said. The fire marshal did not take an official position on the bill.
“Local control would have complete control over this bill as written,” said Sen. John Doll, R-Garden City. “I mean, if the city didn’t want to allow fireworks at midnight blowing up in the air, they could stop that.”
Beagel said her county already allows fireworks to be shot off year-round, but more populated areas should have their own restrictions on fireworks.
“They shouldn’t be lighting fireworks at midnight on a Tuesday in the middle of October when kids are in school and people have jobs,” she said. “It makes sense. But we are losing a lot of revenue to our surrounding states.”
“When we won the Super Bowl in 2020, there were so many fireworks that were lit off the National Weather Service was able to see it on their radar. For me, that’s just incredible, because where’d they get them from? I mean, sure, some people might save fireworks after the season. But for most people, if you’re like my family, it’s getting blown up that night.”
Fireworks were much more common on the Missouri side of the border, the NWS Kansas City graphic showed.
“I always hear from people I wish you could be open all year round because I want to buy firework for a wedding, graduation, family reunions, New Years and the list can go on and on,” Aiello said in written testimony. “But what I am telling you is, we have Kansans going out of state and buying fireworks from another state and spending there (sic) hard earned money in another state instead of spending it right here in Kansas.”
Some parts of the fireworks industry are already allowed year-round and are licensed by the fire marshal, such as commercial pyrotechnic display operators. But retailers can’t sell to the general public for personal use.
Annual retailers would be required to operate out of brick-and-mortar stores, as opposed to the tents that pop up across Kansas the week before Independence Day. Such buildings would be required to have sprinkler and alarm systems, said Philip Bradley of the Kansas Fireworks Association.
Bradley said many seasonal sellers want to extend the season, while some are looking to expand their businesses if annual selling becomes legal.
“This is a fun bill,” said Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita and committee chair. “I wish that we would have been able to…really put on a display if the Chiefs had won Sunday, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said he has “a soft spot in my heart for fireworks” because he buys about $400 worth of fireworks and “really make my neighbors upset with me on July 4.” “This is a small business issue,” he said. “These dollars grow and stay in the community.”
Pat Cedeno, a retail sales manager for Jake’s Fireworks in Pittsburg, said the company supports the bill. “I knew as a little kid that Missouri sold year-round,” said Sen. Kristen O’Shea, R-Topeka. “And so I do think this would be an easy thing for Kansas to do, and why not?”
Nobody testified in opposition to the bill, and the only concern raised came from Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson and committee vice chair.
Steffen asked Jorgensen, the fire marshal, whether there are any studies showing a correlation between firework seasons and wildfires.
“I don’t think there’s been an exact study done,” Jorgensen said. “But just based on my experience, I would probably say that the more fireworks that are set off, there is a higher propensity for wildland fires.”
The Fourth of July is peak wildfire day for local fire departments, according to a 2018 report from the National Fire Protection Association.
The NFPA found that local fire departments nationwide respond to an average of 840 brush, grass or forest fires per day. That accounts for about 23% of all fires reported to local authorities.
Fireworks cause about 4% of those blazes, but they become much more common around Independence Day.
Local fire department responses to brush, grass or forest fires quintuple on the holiday, averaging 4,430 such fires on July 4. The second-worst day of the year for such fires is July 5, with an average of 2,550 fires nationwide.
The association reported that many of those blazes were started by people who were playing with fireworks.
Aiello, recognizing the fire hazard, wrote that retailers “are going to have to take responsibility let people know that it’s been dry, or we are in a red flag warning and state to the purchaser that we recommend that you do not shoot fireworks off right now.”
Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal.
