BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 929
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 929 (Evans) - As Amended: June 20, 2011
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:8-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill modifies child carseat laws to increase the age at
which children must no longer use a booster seat. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Repeals the requirement that a child who is under six years
old or who weighs less than 60 pounds use a child passenger
restraint system.
2)Requires a child who is under eight years old to sit in the
rear seat of a vehicle and to use an appropriate child
passenger restraint system.
3)Exempts from the child safety seat requirement a child who is
under eight years of age but who is a least four feet nine
inches tall.
4)Allows a child who is under eight years and who is at least
four feet nine inches tall to ride in the front seat of a
vehicle, under limited circumstances, including that the child
is not in a rear-facing child passenger safety seat.
5)Removes the requirement that a local government provide a
low-cost or loaner child passenger safety seat to an
economically disadvantaged family, a member of which has
violated child passenger safety seat laws.
6)Asserts, on behalf of the Legislature, that the provisions of
the bill allow the state be eligible for federal
transportation grants.
SB 929
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FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible state costs.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author intends this bill the increase the age
through which children use booster seats, thereby reducing
injury and death resulting from traffic accidents.
2)Background. Motor vehicle accidents cause about one of every
three injury deaths of children 12 years of age and younger.
For children aged five years through 12, motor vehicle crashes
are the leading cause of death. Child passenger restraint
systems properly used by children can save their lives and
reduce their chance of injury in a motor vehicle accident.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
(NHTSA) recommends children who have outgrown car seats with
an internal harness (usually at about four years old),
continue to ride in booster seats until they reach age eight
years or until they are at least four-feet-nine inches tall,
since booster seats help to ensure that the safety belt is
positioned properly across the child and restrains, rather
than injures, the child when an accident occurs.
The federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) of
2005 included a provision establishing child safety and child
booster seat incentive grants. This provision requires the
Transportation Secretary to make grants to states that are
enforcing child booster seat laws for older children, funding
for which varies annually.
3)Related Legislation.
a) AB 881 (Mullin) of 2007, would have increased the
maximum age of children required to be restrained by a
child passenger restraint system in the rear seat of a
vehicle from the current six years of age to under
eight-years-old or four-feet-nine inches tall. The bill
was vetoed by the governor.
b) AB 2108 (Evans) 2006, would have increased the age
requirement for children to be restrained by a child
SB 929
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passenger restraint system in the rear seat of a vehicle
from the current six years of age to eight-years-old as
well as removing the current 60-pound weight limit. That
bill was vetoed by the governor who instead called for
better education and compliance with existing laws.
c) AB 1697 (Pavley, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2003),
required children less than six years old or less than 60
pounds to be properly secured in a child passenger
restraint system in the back seat of a vehicle.
d) SB 42 (Speier, Chapter 84, Statutes of 2001), required
children less than six years of age or less than 60 pounds
to use a child passenger restraint system.
4)Support . This bill is supported by several transportation
safety organizations, among others.
5)There is no formal opposition registered to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081