Ducey signs bills to ban late fireworks, expand Botox use
Light sleepers, children and nervous animals will rest easier under a new law that allows counties and municipalities to cut off use of fireworks by 11 p.m.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed the legislation, Senate Bill 1275, on Friday along with 18 other bills, including one that allows dentists to give Botox to patients for cosmetic reasons.
The fireworks and Botox measures will become law 90 days after the end of the ongoing legislative session.
Rep. Dr. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, an emergency physician for Dignity Health, formulated the fireworks bill after hearing loud bangs near his home at 7th Street and Thomas Road at all hours of the night and researching complaints on NextDoor.com.
Shah tried to pass a similar bill last year, but Democratic bills usually get no traction in the GOP-dominated Legislature. This year, Sen. J.D. Mesnard, RChandler, helped him by submitting a similar bill in the Senate.
Currently, using fireworks is permitted only 27 days of the year to cover the holidays of Cinco De Mayo, Independence Day, Christmas and New Year’s. Shah’s bill allows a town, city or county to limit use of fireworks from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Arizona already bans most forms of fireworks, including firecrackers, bottle rockets and roman candles. The new law applies to Arizona’s permissible consumer fireworks, which include sparklers, ground spinners, toy smoke devices and cylindrical fountains.
“I’m glad this one got passed,” Mesnard said Friday.
He said he’s supported the idea previously, but an incident last year of extremely loud fireworks going off near his home that scared his 2-year-old daughter convinced him to join Shah in allowing the new restrictions.
“She was just terrified — screaming, shaking,” he said.
City representatives told lawmakers that police would be more likely to respond to any report of late-night fireworks use if the law was in place, he said.
Local governments will decide on what penalties to implement.
Animals shelters “experience the fallout” from late-night fireworks, Bretta Nelson of the Arizona Humane Society said in a statement.
“Our hope is that with the signing of SB 1275 it will not only mitigate the number of pets who flee their homes due to a fear of fireworks — and potentially get injured doing so — but will also help alleviate some of the strain that shelters face due to an increased number of stray pets during those times,” she said.
Dentists injecting Botox bill signed
Ducey also signed Senate Bill 1074, which allows dentists to inject patients with Botox and dermal fillers for therapeutic or cosmetic purposes. Previously, dentists were allowed to do so for medical reasons, such as helping to alleviate jaw pain or reducing production of saliva.
Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, introduced the bill that had bipartisan support at the Legislature. At committee hearings on the measure, dentists told lawmakers that they already were trained to give the injections around the heads and mouths of patients.
“Anytime we allow trained professionals to work at the top of their game when it makes sense, I think we should remove those restrictions from law,” Barto told a House committee. “And that’s what this bill does.”
Ducey struck a familiar chord — eliminating government regulation where possible — in a statement accompanying the bill signings.
“Arizona is a land of opportunity for all and we believe government shouldn’t stand in the way of that,” Ducey said in the released statement. “Today’s bills strengthen that belief. My thanks goes to all the lawmakers for their continued work to serve our great state.”