Senator Bonacic's Bill to Allow Orange County Cities to Opt Out of Sale of Sparkling Devices Passes the Senate

(Albany, NY)-Senator John J. Bonacic (R/C/I-Mt. Hope) is pleased to announce that the Senate has passed legislation that he sponsored, S.6683 which would give the cities in Orange County, Middletown, Port Jervis and Newburgh, the option to opt-out of the sale of “sparkling devices”. The use of "sparkling devices" were authorized in Orange County pursuant to Local Law in 2015. With Orange County being so close to Pennsylvania, where many more firework devices are legal, there was an increase in the usage of both legal "sparkling devices" and "illegal fireworks" in the County. This caused a steep increase in complaints to the local police forces, causing them to look into unnecessary "quality of life" complaints. In acknowledgement of the issues that arose, legislation was requested to provide the cities in Orange County the ability to "opt-out" of the county authorization.

“Allowing the three cities in Orange County the option of opting out of the sale of ‘sparkling devices’ is a common sense measure that will help alleviate the issues that occurred last year related to fireworks,” said Senator Bonacic.

City of Middletown Mayor Joseph Destefano said, "I would like to thank Senator Bonacic and the members of the Senate for passing this bill today. Giving the cities in Orange County the option of opting out of the sale of fireworks is a reasonable approach that will help ensure residents are not subjected to unwanted fireworks."