Nevada family renews ‘Lizzy’s law’ fight, seeking legislation on bounce house safety

CARSON CITY — It’s been almost six years since Mitch and Wendy Hammond lost their 9-year-old daughter, Lizzy, after a bounce house she was in was swept up by a gust of wind into power lines in Reno.

Wendy Hammond made sure to check beforehand that the inflatable structure was staked into the ground, but those only made sure the bounce house didn’t shift.

Had the bounce house been weighted down, she told the state Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor on Wednesday, her daughter might be alive today.

Visibly upset, Wendy Hammond told her family’s story, and not for the first time. The couple has spent years advocating for “Lizzy’s law,” which would create regulations for an industry that’s been given little oversight in Nevada outside of Clark County.

The bounce house operator “did not have a business license, and he’s faced no charges because there’s no law that he broke. He had taken the labels off the bounce house, so we could not prove that he set it up wrong,” Lizzy’s mother said. “There is nothing for us to stand on with him.”

Assembly Bill 198, filed by Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May, D-Las Vegas, would require businesses to secure bounce houses with weights, ensure all manufacturer labels are on the structure and not operate at certain wind speeds.

On top of a business license, companies would also need to get proper insurance or a surety bond of at least $1 million.

Failure to meet the standards would create a “conclusive presumption” for a civil lawsuit that the operator acted recklessly.

No decision on the bill was made during Wednesday’s hearing.

Similar regulations already exist in Clark County, so the bill would just extend the rules statewide, Brown-May said,

“We’ve done a fair bit of work to make sure that we are focused on the safety and well-being of our families and our children,” Brown-May said. “We certainly don’t want to disparage (bounce house companies), but we do want to make sure they’re being operated effectively.”

The Lizzy Hammond Foundation, created in the 9-year-old’s honor, worked with the inflatable device industry to adjust the bill so it could be instituted with as little friction as possible.

After hearing the Hammonds’ story, legislators questioned some of those concessions.

While the bill originally called for stopping bounce houses from operating when wind speeds are above 10 mph, an amendment increased it to 20 mph.

Assembly Commerce and Labor Chair Elaine Marzola, D-Las Vegas, asked Elliot Malin, a representative for the Lizzy Hammond Foundation, why the change was made.

Malin explained that there was an additional request to raise the threshold to 25 mph. He felt that posed too great of a risk of injury, leading to 20 mph being the adjusted language.

Wendy Hammond told the committee the mishap that led to her daughter’s death occurred with 17 mph winds.

“For us to move to 20, it hurts our hearts. I’m hoping it doesn’t hurt any kids because that is why we’re here. That’s why we share our testimony: to help others,” she said.

Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, said the amendment changing the maximum wind speed was “problematic” for her, asking if 15 mph could be a happy medium.

Brown-May said she would be “more than happy” to go with that maximum speed.

Another “major point of contention” in the original bill was a requirement for operators to be near a bounce house whenever it’s in use, continuously monitoring wind speed, Malin said.

A proposed amendment would swap that requirement for another: operators teaching customers how to measure wind speed.

“I would love to see that there would be an operator there the entire time. I also understand that (the associated cost is) unrealistic to these businesses,” Malin said, adding that much of the bill’s outlined requirements were already agreed to with many standard industry contracts.

Other family and friends of the Hammonds also addressed the committee. Many wore a green butterfly pin, the logo of the foundation created in Lizzy’s name.

The girl’s grandfather, Roger Linscott, described waiting for “what seemed like an hour” until he could take custody of his family’s children that weren’t in the hospital that day.

“But nobody was charged,” Linscott said. “Law enforcement really should be able to ... take some sort of action, especially when something as freakish as this happens. Somebody was responsible, but nobody was held responsible.”