Bill
AB 198
Requires operator businesses to meet safety, inspection, anchoring, wind limits, logs, insurance, and signage rules for outdoor inflatable devices to reduce injuries.
Status and timeline
- Introduced: Jan. 8, 2025 (Assemblymember Brown‑May)
- Passed Assembly and Senate with amendments; enrolled May 29, 2025
- Approved by the Governor: June 3, 2025 — Chapter 235
Purpose
- To improve public safety by establishing statewide minimum requirements and restrictions for the operation, inspection, anchoring, sale/transfer and signage of certain air‑filled inflatable devices used for outdoor recreation (e.g., bounce houses, inflatable slides, obstacle courses).
Key definitions
- “Inflatable device”: an air‑filled structure that gains shape/stability from internal air pressure and is intended for outdoor recreational use (includes constant‑air bounce houses, inflatable slides, water slides, obstacle courses, pools, enclosed trampolines).
- “Operator”: person on‑site who sets up, operates, maintains or supervises an inflatable device on behalf of an operator business.
- “Operator business”: business that makes inflatable devices available for use and employs/controls an operator.
Major provisions and requirements
- Licensing and financial responsibility
- Operator businesses must hold all applicable state and local business licenses and carry liability insurance or a surety bond of at least $1,000,000.
- Logbooks and recordkeeping
- A written or electronic logbook must be kept with each inflatable device, available for inspection by customers, users and state/local agencies.
- Inspection results and required records must be retained for at least 2 years.
- Inspections and manufacturer guidance
- Operators must inspect the device and site before and during each use and follow the bill’s requirements and any manufacturer user manual, updates, or recall information.
- Use must be prohibited if an inspection (or a reasonable inspection) reveals a hazard or potential hazard making use unsafe.
- Labels and transfers
- Devices with missing or illegible manufacturer labels may not be used; sales/transfers require providing the purchaser with the manufacturer’s user manual and any updates/recall information.
- Wind monitoring and operational limits
- Operators must monitor wind speed at the location at all times while the device is in use (use of an anemometer is specified in committee amendments).
- Operation must cease if wind speed exceeds the manufacturer’s recommendation or 15 miles per hour, whichever is greater (final enacted language).
- Anchoring and weights
- Anchoring requirements specify acceptable methods and minimums in many amendments: for example, noncorrosive metal stakes (minimum ~18 inches; driven at an angle unless manufacturer requires longer) or weights (e.g., 75 pounds per anchor point), except where manufacturer specifications dictate otherwise. (Final enacted text prescribes anchoring standards; operators must follow manufacturer requirements where applicable.)
- Signage
- Operators must display a conspicuous, legible safety/warning sign at the device while it is in use (bill specifies required information in committee drafts).
Local authority and enforcement
- Counties, cities and towns are authorized to adopt ordinances that replicate or add to the bill’s requirements and may provide for civil and criminal penalties for violations. The measure’s fiscal note indicates it may increase or newly provide for terms of imprisonment in county or city jails (local fiscal impact).
Who is affected
- Operator businesses and on‑site operators (compliance, insurance, recordkeeping costs).
- Purchasers/transferees of inflatable devices (receipt of manuals/recall info).
- Event hosts, customers and users (safety protections and potential limitations on use).
- Local governments (authority to regulate and potential enforcement responsibilities).
Practical impact
- Establishes minimum safety, inspection, anchoring and recordkeeping standards intended to reduce accidents and injuries associated with outdoor inflatable devices.
- Likely increases compliance costs for small businesses that rent/operate inflatables (insurance, training, equipment such as anemometers, logbooks, anchoring systems).
- Enables local jurisdictions to enforce and expand on these requirements.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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