As the school year ends and summer begins, children all around the United States will be spending more time outside playing with friends at our community playgrounds.  While most kids enjoy horsing around at the playground, it can be a dangerous place if the equipment is either broken or not up to code.  Every year more than 200,000 children are injured on America's playgrounds, and, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 147 children died between 1990 and 2000 from playground equipment-related injuries.

In a 1998 survey, U.S. playgrounds received an overall grade of C- when rated on the presence of physical hazards and behavioral elements, including supervision and age-appropriate design.  Mr. Speaker, many may think that this is an acceptable grade because states, counties and local communities don't have any specific standards to follow when building playgrounds.

However this is not true.  For the past several decades, the CPSC has written a very detailed national code to help states and local governments build the safest possible playgrounds.  Unfortunately, only five states require that all public playgrounds in their respective communities abide by these standards.

My legislation, the Safe Playgrounds Act, would urge states to pass a law that assures that all playgrounds are safe for our kids.

The Safe Playgrounds Act will provide $1 million grants to states that enact statewide laws regulating public playgrounds according to the CPSC's Handbook for Public Playground Safety.  States could use these funds to either build new playgrounds or bring older ones up to code.   

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in protecting our kids from playground accidents by cosponsoring this bill.  Playground accidents will always be a reality, but by making these grounds as safe as possible, we can reduce those accidents that are not the fault of the child but of the playground itself.