Reeling from a sexual-harassment scandal that forced one assemblyman to resign and has raised questions about the conduct of their speaker, the New York state assembly is turning its attention to a pressing issue: borders for bowling shoes.
A bill sponsored by state senator Patrick Gallivan (R., 59th) and assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D., 140th) would require bowling-alley owners to post signs “warning keglers not to wear bowling shoes outside, lest they become wet and increase the likelihood that a bowler could slip and fall when they come inside.”
Bowling-alley owners claim that, since the state outlawed smoking in bowling alleys, bowlers have taken to ducking outside for smoke breaks during games, without taking their shoes off. When it’s raining or snowing, the shoes become slippery, bowlers fall on the lanes, and owners get sued.
If it seems like common sense to recognize that you might slip on wet shoes, well, that’s because it is. Except in Albany, apparently.