Dennis RomeroUpdated after the jump: Fiona Ma officially waters down her bill, calls it the “Raves Safety Act.” A state assembly committee passes the bill.
It looks like a proposed ban on raves at state-owned venues will be watered down and allow the parties to go on.
San Francisco state Assemblywoman Fiona Ma proposed the Anti Raves Act of 2011 in December but faced stiff opposition from ravers, who organized a protest against the legislation on Facebook.
Ma's office today said it would re-introduce AB 74 tomorrow and indicated that the lawmaker has backed off on a full-on rave ban on taxpayer-owned property such as the L.A. Coliseum:
The bill will establish a set of guidelines that must be followed prior to hosting a large event on state property … AB 74 is the product of months of collaboration between local elected officials, medical responders, law enforcement, promoters and others.
Ravers at the Love Festival.; Credit: Caesar Sebastian
The remixed law was expected to be unveiled at a Wednesday afternoon press conference in a State Capitol conference room.
The legislation was inspired by a trio of rave-related deaths, including the ecstasy overdose of 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez, who had attended Electric Daisy Carnival at the Coliseum in June.
A May rave at the state-run Cow Palace also saw the drug-related deaths of two young men.
Facing an uphill battle at the publicly run Coliseum for a repeat in June, Electric Daisy Carnival moved to Las Vegas.
Update: We tracked down a copy of the amended legislation, and lo and behold, a ban on raves is off the table. Way off the table.
Ma is now calling her April 25-amended bill, AB 74, the “Raves Safety Act.”
Basically the law would require state agencies that want to allow raves on their property to assess whether the party could result of loss of life and, if so, present an “action plan” addressing health and safety, law enforcement, and crowd education.
Wow, sounds like she bowed to the pro-rave interests. Here's some of the new language of AB 74:
If the state agency determines that, based on the facts presented to it in the assessment, there is a strong probability that loss of life or harm to the participants could occur, then the state agency shall require the promoter to prepare an event action plan.
Update No. 2: Ma's people tell us the Assembly Agriculture Committee passed the bill 9-0.
Ma says this is a good way to address some of the deaths and overdoses at raves. Here's what she stated late Wednesday afternoon:
The State needs to better monitor and control events occurring on State properties. Casualties can be prevented and I've seen what works. AB 74 is intended to prevent the loss of life and make safety a top priority at events on state property.
First posted at 9:49 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26.
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