Senate supports bill to block bans on gas-powered leaf blowers

The blaring noise of gas-powered leaf blowers that haunts many of metro Atlanta’s neighborhoods won protection this past week in the Georgia Senate.

Cities and counties would be unable to ban the blowers under Senate Bill 145.

State Sen. Shawn Still, a Republican from Johns Creek and the sponsor of the measure, said the ban is needed because battery-powered electric blowers do not last long enough to meet the needs of landscape professionals and residents.

Some critics say the bill would preempt local control. But Still said the choice of gas- or battery-powered blowers would be in the hands of schools, hospitals, businesses and homeowners associations.

“What this bill does do, it prevents entire cities and counties from banning gas-powered units because the technology between gas and electric are not equal,” he said. “This bill exactly gives local control to each individual homeowner to decide what they’re going to do in their own yard.”

Concerns over noise and air pollution spurred several local governments, including the cities of Atlanta and Decatur, to explore ways to regulate gas-powered leaf blowers. But those efforts appear to have gone nowhere.

State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, was able to attach a sunset clause on the bill before it passed on a 37-16 vote. If it becomes law, it would expire June 30, 2031.

Parent still voted against the measure, noting that gas-powered blowers come with “harmful air impacts and harmful noise impacts.”

Now the blowers and SB 145 are a concern for the House — the state House.

JOHN SPINK/AJC 2002 The Georgia Senate voted this past week in support of a measure that would prevent cities and counties from banning gas-powered leaf blowers.