Four Democrat senators, including presidential hopeful Cory Booker, are taking action to eliminate the threat posed from beach umbrellas after a woman died when struck by one in Virginia Beach in 2016.
Sens. Mark Warner, Robert Menendez, Tim Kaine, and 2020 candidate Booker sent a letter to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission asking it to tell them how the issue is being addressed. “The scourge of beach umbrellas is not a new phenomenon,” the letter says, citing a New York woman who incurred an injury in 1999.
The senators want answers by June 3, 2019 regarding “safety standards” being put in place to minimize beach umbrella attacks.