AOPA Southwest Regional Representative Shelly deZevallos (right) recently met with Senate President Steve Morris (left) and bill sponsor Rep. Carl Holmes about a measure that could greatly increase access to private airstrips.
The Kansas House of Representatives has passed a liability protection bill that could greatly increase access to private airstrips in the state.
House Bill 2184 would extend protection that now insulates landowners from liability in connection with such activities as hunting, fishing, and camping on their property to noncommercial aviation. It passed the House 118-3.
AOPA Director of State Government Affairs Mark Kimberling and AOPA Southwest Regional Representative Shelly deZevallos are working with lawmakers to advocate passage of the bill, which was referred to the Kansas Senate Agriculture Committee Feb. 24.
deZevallos recently met with Senate President Steve Morris and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Carl Holmes, an AOPA member and Mooney pilot, on the measure. She said it would enhance “the strong general aviation history in the state and Kansas’s enormous contribution to our country’s aviation industry.”
“Kansas is already home to more than 140 public-use airports,” deZevallos said. “There are also numerous other private airstrips throughout the state that are not currently open to the public because of outdated and inequitable liability laws. AOPA has been working across the country to change liability laws so that owners of these airstrips can open them to GA access.”
