🔒Ban on releasing balloons passes CT Senate

A bill that would ban the release of helium-filled balloons in Connecticut passed the Senate on Tuesday, a victory for advocates who have long argued the balloons pose a deadly risk to wildlife. The legislation, Senate Bill 452, would lower the number of balloons that can be intentionally released within a single day from 10 balloons to none. It does not change the penalty for releasing a balloon, which is currently an infraction that comes with a fine of up to $75. The bill would also require retailers to attach weights to any balloons sold in the state. “Overall, it’s going to be a huge improvement on the number of balloons I see floating out on [Long Island] Sound,” said Bill Lucey, of the environmental nonprofit Save the Sound. Lucey noted that previous efforts to ban the release of balloons have fallen short after lawmakers raised concerns about enforcement, particularly among young children. “Every year we think it’s just about there and a new issue comes up,” Lucey said. “But I think we finally got there. I think this is a reasonable compromise.” An earlier version of this year’s bill would have banned all sales of lighter-than-air balloons in the state. At retailers’ requests, that section was replaced with the language requiring balloons be sold with weights. Businesses would face a $20 violation for failing to abide by that rule. “The main trust of this legislation is not to penalize people or anything along those lines, it’s education,” said Sen. Rick Lopes, D-New Britain, the co-chair of the Environment Committee. Connecticut is one of nearly a dozen states that have limited or banned the release of helium balloons, according to the advocacy group Balloon Mission. In some states, proposed bans have faced pushback from groups that organize the release of balloons in honor of people who have died, particularly due to gun violence. Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, said that is also a concern for some communities in Connecticut, though he ultimately voted for the bill after stiffer penalties were removed. “Particularly when there’s a death, they have known balloon releases to be a part of what they do — to the point that they don’t really think about it,” Winfield said. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 35 to 4. It now heads to the House for final passage before it can be sent to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk. Christine Cummings, a wildlife rehabilitator with A Place Called Hope in Killingworth, said she encounters many instances of large birds that get entangled in balloon strings, particularly around graduation season. In one instance, she said a peregrine falcon named Pharoah had its wing broken so that it was unable to fly and is now a permanent resident at her center. “People just don’t understand the consequences of their balloons, that they’re going to come back to Earth when they release them,” Cummings said.