Burning down the house: for nearly 30 years, Don Burns has been a tireless lobbyist for California's pool and spa industry. He leaves a legacy of legislative leadership, and controversy

Pool & Spa News, March 12, 2004 by AmyJo Brown

On the morning of Jan. 6, Don Burns convinced California's Orange County Board of Supervisors to repeal a law mandating four-sided fences around pools and spas. The law had been in place for a year, but the board voted 4 to 0 against it.

By mid-afternoon, Burns left Southern California. The CEO of the California Spa and Pool Education Council (better known as SPEC) headed back to Northern California from whence he came earlier that day to attend Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State Address at 5 p.m. Burns ended the day by sharing a glass of wine with the governor in his private offices.

At an age when most men spend their time enjoying retirement, 75-year-old Burns protects one of the largest pool industry groups in the country. "He's quite educated in both the system of government and in the facts of a case," says Cecil Fraser, owner of Swan Pools of Southern California in Lake Forest, Calif. "I think from a legislative standpoint, he has no peer."

Indeed, Burn's has spent 47 year learning the ins and outs of the California state and local governments. For almost 30 of those years, he has tirelessly campaigned on behalf of the pool and spa industry as a powerful lobbyist. However, Burns is finally preparing to leave his post to explore a more peaceful existence. Though his departure won't be immediate, the SPEC board recently voted to implement a five-year plan, with Burns' exit as its goal.

At press time, he was in the process of hiring someone to train and eventually replace him. But Burns' shoes will be hard to fill. A look at some of his major accomplishments just within the past year provides a glimpse into his impact and influence:

* He helped enact legislation that will require 90 days' jail time for repeat offenders convicted of working without contractor's licenses.

* Working with the Landscape Contractors' Association, he secured legislation requiring landscape contractors to subcontract the pool/spa construction portion of larger projects.

* He helped prevent a state sales tax on all services, which would have driven up costs--particularly for pool and spa service technicians.

This is why many are reluctant to see Burns go. There is a valid fear that once he is gone, the industry will lose the power that it has gained over the past 30 years. "I'm worried," Fraser says. "Replacing him is going to be difficult because of his tenure and relationships in government. He is our voice in Sacramento. We don't have any other mechanism of medium."

Others, however, would welcome a change.

"I'm looking forward to working with someone with a different perspective," says Maureen Williams, a member of the California Drowning Prevention Network and co-founder of the advocacy group's Orange County branch. "I think Don has done a lot of good for the swimming pool industry, but it's known that any effort to pass safety barrier legislation is going to have strong opposition from SPEC. It's time for a new attitude."

Making his mark

Burns' foray into the pool and spa industry in the 1960s began with a request for help from an old friend at the American Societies of Association Executives. His friend happened to be president of the National Spa & Pool Institute. At the time, the industry association had just reorganized and needed someone to be in charge of its Northern California chapter.

Burns, who was anxious to start his own lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., but wasn't quite sure he wanted to leave California, took the post. As with his previous jobs, he went above and beyond his duty, and gained a reputation for quickly and effectively solving industry problems.

Then came the Arab oil crisis in 1973. It triggered the California Public Utilities Commission to propose an emergency regulation to prohibit the use of natural gas to heat pools. A dozen industry members met at an airport to discuss the problem. They only had two weeks to file a petition with the commission's board before the law would go into effect.

Someone suggested that Burns be brought into the meeting at the airport. The group then formed SPEC, a temporary organization that would have authority to combat the national gas dilemma on the industry's behalf.

Due to Burns' political experience, he was chosen to lead the new organization. The group would include the head of every, other industry organization in the state. "All would have a voice in what we did," Burns recalls.

He expected his position at SPEC to retire in six months. "But every time we turned around, there was another problem," he says.

Immediately after stalling the CPUC's natural gas ban, manufacturers of solar heaters went to the state legislature. They tried to mandate the replacement of natural gas heaters with solar ones. However, Burns' efforts killed those bills.

Then seven builders in Orange County went bankrupt. Their pool customers were left with approximately 100 holes in the ground and huge monetary losses. Burns stepped in and worked out a compromise solution with the county government so that builders in the area were not penalized.