The Texas House voted to ban balloon releases…sort of

The Texas House of Representatives gave final approval today to a bill to ban mass balloon releases, but an amendment sucked most of the air out of the bill.

Balloons are often released at celebrations or ceremonies of life. But they end up floating back down to the ground, polluting our waterways and putting wildlife at risk.

Following the lead of Florida, which approved a ban on balloon releases last year, Rep. Terry Canales filed HB 1904 to do the same in Texas. Yesterday, the bill won preliminary approval on a vote of 97-40. However, today, as the House was set to give final approval, Rep. Shelly Luther successfully amended the bill to only apply to mylar balloons.

Mylar balloons have a seam, are made of a foil coated plastic and usually have a shiny, reflective surface with pictures and/or words. They’re much more expensive than latex balloons – the traditional party balloon – and thus aren’t generally used in mass balloon releases.

As a result, the bill as amended will have little practical impact. The bill now moves to the Texas Senate, where hopefully it’ll be amended again to cover all balloons (as the Florida law does).