Did you know if you take your 10-year-old daughter to a birthday party at a trampoline park in Texas and she breaks her ankle, the park is not required to be insured and you could get stuck paying thousands of dollars in medical bills?

While we’re reluctant to encourage more government regulation of business, Texas is unusual in that the state has none at all for the parks, which have recently exploded in popularity. This puts families at unnecessary risk at extraordinary cost. The Legislature should follow in the footsteps of Arizona and Utah and make some changes.

In the meantime, Fort Worth and other local cities should consider ordinances to make the parks safer. Indoor trampoline parks feature dozens of ways to bounce and play freely in a massive gym-like space. They’re popular with kids and young adults alike. Jumpers take off their shoes, wear special socks and — after signing a waiver — can bounce and jump to their heart’s content with little oversight other than a few cautionary signs and young employees.

The consequences of zero regulations for trampoline parks are on display in Sunday’s report by the Star-Telegram’s Nichole Manna. We learn about 25-year old Cole House’s devastating ankle injury when he accidentally landed on a bare metal divider separating two trampolines at Fort Worth’s Flight Deck Trampoline Park six years ago. House sued and eventually settled, but the injury cost him his career in college baseball.

Nearly 500 people have required emergency medical treatment for accidents at Dallas-Fort Worth area trampoline parks, the Star-Telegram found. Of course, the total number of injuries is surely much higher. Surprisingly, Texas has no regulations requiring the parks to follow basic safety precautions or carry insurance. Trampoline parks are not technically amusement parks, either, leaving a loophole to escape inspections.

There are, of course, guidelines with safety protocols posted in most trampoline parks, and most parks require jumpers to sign waivers. But without insurance, there’s little recourse for a funded lawsuit if someone gets seriously hurt. We suggest the kind of basic regulations that exist for outdoor playgrounds in Texas.

The Texas Department of State Health Services conducts inspections for compliance with the standards of the Health and Safety Code of playground equipment at schools, child care facilities and municipal parks in Texas that don’t have local health departments overseeing them.

Arizona and Utah had similar issues and even the Republican-heavy legislatures there decided to pass laws that required trampoline parks to carry insurance, submit to inspections, and report serious issues to the state. Texas could start by emulating Utah, which allows a licensed person in the industry to conduct inspections rather than a state regulator.

Indoor play is a great way to encourage quality family time. We’re also opposed to government-mandated regulations that make business owners shy away from operating these fun but dangerous franchises.

Requiring some basic safety precautions and insurance seems like a good way to ensure families have fun without risking serious harm.