46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO FIREWORKS; AUTHORIZING MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES TO REGULATE THE SALE, POSSESSION OR USE OF FIREWORKS; AMENDING AND REPEALING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 60-2C-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter 346, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

"60-2C-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Fireworks Licensing and Safety Act:

A. "chaser" means a paper or cardboard tube venting out the fuse end of the tube that contains no more than twenty grams of chemical composition and travels along the ground, often producing a whistling effect or other noise; an explosive composition not to exceed fifty milligrams may be included to produce a report;

B. "chemical composition" includes all pyrotechnic and explosive composition contained in a fireworks device, but does not include inert materials such as clay used for plugs or organic matter such as rice hulls used for density control;

C. "cone fountain" means a cardboard or heavy paper cone containing no more than fifty grams of pyrotechnic composition that has the same effect as a cylindrical fountain. When more than one cone is mounted on a common base, total pyrotechnic composition shall not exceed two hundred grams;

D. "crackling device" means a sphere or paper tube that contains no more than twenty grams of pyrotechnic composition that produces a flash of light and a mild, audible crackling effect upon ignition, which effect is not considered to be an explosion. Crackling devices are not subject to the fifty-milligram limit of firecrackers;

E. "cylindrical fountain" means a cylindrical tube containing not more than seventy-five grams of pyrotechnic composition that produces a shower of colored sparks and sometimes a whistling effect or smoke. The device may be provided with a spike for insertion into the ground or a wood or plastic base for placing on the ground or a wood or cardboard handle to be hand held. When more than one tube is mounted on a common base, total pyrotechnic composition shall not exceed two hundred grams;

F. "display distributor" means [any] a person, firm or corporation selling display fireworks;

G. "display fireworks" means devices primarily intended for commercial displays that are designed to produce visible or audible effects by combustion, deflagration or detonation, including salutes containing more than one hundred thirty milligrams of explosive composition; aerial shells containing more than forty grams of chemical composition exclusive of lift charge; and other exhibition display items that exceed the limits for permissible fireworks;

H. "distributor" means [any] a person, firm or corporation selling fireworks to wholesalers and retailers for resale;

I. "explosive composition" means [any] a chemical compound or mixture, the primary purpose of which is to function by explosion, producing an audible effect in a fireworks device;

J. "firecracker" means a small, paper-wrapped or cardboard tube containing no more than fifty milligrams of explosive composition that produces noise and a flash of light; provided that firecrackers used in aerial devices may contain up to one hundred thirty milligrams of explosive composition per report;

K. "fireworks" means devices intended to produce a visible or audible effect by combustion, deflagration or detonation and are categorized as "permissible fireworks" or "display fireworks";

L. "flitter sparkler" means a narrow paper tube attached to a stick or wire and filled with no more than five grams of pyrotechnic composition that produces color and sparks upon ignition and the paper at one end of the tube is ignited to make the device function;

M. "ground spinner" means a small, rapidly spinning device containing no more than twenty grams of pyrotechnic composition venting out an orifice usually on the side of the tube that when ignited produces a shower of sparks and color. "Ground spinner" is similar in operation to a wheel, but is intended to be placed flat on the ground and ignited;

N. "helicopter" or "aerial spinner" means a tube containing no more than twenty grams of chemical composition with a propeller or blade attached that spins rapidly as it rises into the air with a visible or audible effect sometimes produced at or near the height of flight;

O. "illuminating torch" means a cylindrical tube containing no more than one hundred grams of pyrotechnic composition that produces a colored flame upon ignition and may be spiked, based or hand held. When more than one tube is mounted on a common base, total pyrotechnic composition shall not exceed two hundred grams;

P. "manufacturer" means [any] a person, firm or corporation engaged in the manufacture of fireworks;

Q. "mine" or "shell" means a heavy cardboard or paper tube usually attached to a wooden or plastic base and containing no more than forty grams of chemical composition plus not more than twenty grams of lift charge per tube that individually expels pellets of pressed pyrotechnic composition that burn with bright color in a star effect, or other devices propelled into the air, and that contains components producing reports containing a maximum one hundred thirty milligrams of explosive composition per report. A mine may contain more than one tube, but the tubes must fire in sequence upon ignition of one external fuse, and the total chemical composition, including lift charges, of a multiple tube device shall not exceed two hundred grams;

R. "missile-type rocket" means a device similar to a stick-type rocket in size, composition and effect that uses fins rather than a stick for guidance and stability and that contains no more than twenty grams of chemical composition;

S. "permissible fireworks" means fireworks legal for sale to and use in New Mexico by the general public;

T. "pyrotechnic composition" means a chemical mixture that on burning and without explosion produces visible or brilliant displays or bright lights or whistles or motion;

U. "retailer" means [any] a person, firm or corporation purchasing fireworks for resale to consumers;

V. "roman candle" means a heavy paper or cardboard tube containing no more than twenty grams of chemical composition that individually expels pellets of pressed pyrotechnic composition that burn with bright color in a star effect;

W. "specialty retailer" means [any] a person, firm or corporation purchasing permissible fireworks for year-round resale in permanent retail stores whose primary business is tourism;

X. "stick-type rocket" means a cylindrical tube containing no more than twenty grams of chemical composition with a wooden stick attached for guidance and stability that rises into the air upon ignition and produces a burst of color or sound at or near the height of flight;

Y. "toy smoke device" means a small plastic or paper item containing no more than one hundred grams of pyrotechnic composition that produces white or colored smoke as the primary effect;

Z. "wheel" means a pyrotechnic device that is made to attach to a post or other surface and that revolves, producing a shower of color and sparks and sometimes a whistling effect, and that may have one or more drivers, each of which contains no more than sixty grams of pyrotechnic composition and the total wheel contains no more than two hundred grams total pyrotechnic composition; and

AA. "wholesaler" means [any] a person, firm or corporation purchasing fireworks for resale to retailers [and

BB. "wildlands" means any lands covered wholly or in part by timber, brush or native grass]."

Section 2. Section 60-2C-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter 346, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:

"60-2C-7. PERMISSIBLE FIREWORKS.--

A. Permissible fireworks are:

(1) ground and hand-held sparkling and smoke devices:

(a) cone fountains;

(b) crackling devices;

(c) cylindrical fountains;

(d) flitter sparklers;

(e) ground spinners;

(f) illuminating torches;

(g) toy smoke devices; and

(h) wheels;

(2) aerial devices:

(a) aerial spinners;

(b) helicopters;

(c) mines;

(d) missile-type rockets; [and]

(e) roman candles;

(f) shells; and

(g) stick-type rockets, except as provided in Subsection B of this section; and

(3) ground audible devices:

(a) chasers; and

(b) firecrackers.

B. Stick-type rockets having a tube less than a [one-quarter-inch] one-fourth-inch inside diameter are not permissible fireworks.

C. A municipality or county [shall not] may by ordinance regulate and prohibit the sale, possession or use of any permissible firework [except aerial devices and ground audible devices] within its jurisdiction."

Section 3. Section 60-2C-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter 346, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:

"60-2C-8. RETAIL SALES OR STORAGE OF FIREWORKS--REGULATED ACTIVITIES.--

A. [No] Fireworks may not be sold at retail without a retail permit. The permit shall be at the location where the retail sale takes place.

B. It is unlawful to offer for sale or to sell [any] fireworks to children under the age of sixteen years or to [any] an intoxicated person.

C. At all places where fireworks are stored, sold or displayed, the words "NO SMOKING" shall be posted in letters at least four inches in height. Smoking, open flames and any ignition source are prohibited within twenty-five feet of [any] fireworks stock.

D. [No] Fireworks shall not be stored, kept, sold or discharged within fifty feet of [any] a gasoline pump or gasoline bulk station or [any] a building in which gasoline or volatile liquids are sold in quantities in excess of one gallon, except in stores where cleaners, paints and oils are handled in sealed containers only.

E. All fireworks permittees and licensees shall keep and maintain upon the premises a fire extinguisher bearing an underwriters laboratories incorporated rated capacity of at least five-pound ABC per five hundred square feet of space used for fireworks sales or storage.

F. A sales clerk who is at least sixteen years of age shall be on duty to serve consumers at the time of purchase or delivery. Permissible fireworks may be offered for sale only at state-permitted or state-licensed retail locations.

G. [No] Fireworks shall not be discharged within one hundred fifty feet of [any] a fireworks retail sales location.

H. [No] Fireworks shall not be sold or used on state forest land.

I. [No] A person shall

ignite [any] fireworks within a motor vehicle or throw fireworks from a motor vehicle, nor shall [any] a person place or throw [any] ignited [article of] fireworks into or at a motor vehicle or at or near [any] a person or group of people.

J. [Any] Fireworks devices that are readily accessible to handling by consumers or purchasers in a retail sales location shall have their exposed fuses protected in a manner to protect against accidental ignition of an item by a spark, cigarette ash or other ignition source. If the fuse is a thread-wrapped safety fuse which has been coated with a nonflammable coating, only the outside end of the safety fuse shall be covered. If the fuse is not a safety fuse, then the entire fuse shall be covered.

K. Permissible fireworks may be sold at retail between June 20 and July 6 of each year, [and] six days preceding and including new year's day, [and] three days preceding and including Chinese new year, the sixteenth of September and cinco de Mayo of each year, except that permissible fireworks may be sold all year in permanent retail stores whose primary business is tourism, where not prohibited by municipal or county ordinance."

Section 4. REPEAL.--Section 60-2C-8.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 17, Section 9, as amended) is repealed.

Section 5. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.