California and New Jersey are poised to adopt the nation's first ever laws requiring all children under 18 years old to wear helmets while skiing. Helmets already are virtually ubiquitous on Colorado's younger skiers. 'To me, this is the law catching up to where people already are. Very few kids don't have helmets these days,' said Rob Katz, chief executive of Vail Resorts, which supported the California bill and operates the Heavenly ski area in the state. His company, with four ski areas in Colorado, would support similar rules in the state. The state's largest ski operators Vail Resorts, Aspen Skiing and Intrawest already require helmets on children in ski school. Many resorts require their employees to wear helmets while working on the hill. Even more mandate helmets for terrain park riders. In 2008-09, the National Ski Areas Association counted 39 deaths out of 57.4 million skier days in the U.S., roughly the same annual tally of fatalities over the last decade. Among those deaths, 31 were not using helmets. That same season, the NSAA counted 44 serious injuries and 32 of those skiers were not wearing helmets. In a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in February this year, researchers found that the risk of head injury fell by 35 percent with helmet use on ski slopes. The same study found no connection between helmet use and neck injury, a common concern among the dwindling number of helmet opponents. Even without the threat of laws and fines, helmet use climbs roughly 5 percent every year. Half of all skiers and snowboarders in America wear helmets, up from 25 percent in 2002-03. Helmets are on 90 percent of Colorado's skiers 9 years old and younger and the state already leads the country in helmet usage, said Melanie Mills , president of Colorado Ski Country, the trade group representing 22 of the state's resorts. 'We will probably get pretty darn close to all kids wearing helmets in a few years,' Mills said. The NSAA, based in Lakewood, initially opposed the California legislation, which still requires the governor's signature after passing the state Senate last week. It would impose a $25 fine on the parents of violators. Amendments putting the onus for helmets on parents and moving enforcement away from resorts swayed the NSAA to support the California law, which is now modeled after the state's bicycle helmet law for kids. 'As long as parents are responsible for putting the helmets on the kids and the resorts are not responsible for enforcement,' said Geraldine Link , the NSAA's policy director, explaining the group's backing for the California law. The group, which represents 332 ski areas, also worked with a brain injury group in New Jersey to help draft legislation that would mandate helmets on skiers 17 and under. The New Jersey senate last week approved the measure. A New York legislator has taken the idea even further, proposing helmets for skiers of all ages and fining resorts for every unprotected cranium on the slopes as well as skiers. Lawmakers in New Jersey and New York have pondered mandatory helmet laws several times before. The law in California will likely prod other ski states to consider laws requiring helmets, the NSAA's Link said. 'Incredibly high usage rates reached voluntarily recently may obviate the need for mandates, but it will certainly be a consideration in many states over the next few years,' she said. 