SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1835

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 14, 2019

      The Senate Commerce Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1835.

     This bill requires children’s Halloween costumes sold at retail to have reflective material that is 1) attached to the costume, or 2)  packaged with the costume to be subsequently attached by the buyer. Reflective material increases visibility in unsafe situations and helps to reduce the risk of consequential accidents due to low visibility or darkness. 

     A person who sells a child’s Halloween costume without reflective material would pay a penalty of not more than $500 for the first offense and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent offense. 

     The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges consumers to purchase or make costumes that are brightly colored and clearly visible to motorists.  Consumers should decorate or trim costumes and treat bags with reflective tape that glows in the beam of a car’s headlights. The commission also recommends that bags or sacks be brightly colored or decorated with reflective tape.

     According to the CPSC, hundreds of Halloween-related injuries are reported each year. Incidents involve burns, lacerations from pumpkin-carving, falls related to ill-fitting costumes, and injuries from collisions due to impaired vision.  Requiring reflective material on costumes marketed to and used by children improves the safety of trick-or-treaters and drivers on Halloween night.