Bill Text: FL H0151 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Child Safety Devices in Motor Vehicles

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2012-03-09 - Died in Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee [H0151 Detail]

Download: Florida-2012-H0151-Introduced.html

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HB 151

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to child safety devices in motor
3	vehicles; amending s. 316.613, F.S.; providing child
4	restraint requirements for children age 7 years or
5	younger who are less than a specified height;
6	providing exceptions; redefining the term "motor
7	vehicle" to exclude certain vehicles from such
8	requirements; providing a grace period; requiring that
9	a law enforcement officer issue a warning and give
10	educational literature to an operator of a motor
11	vehicle during the grace period, under certain
12	circumstances; providing effective dates.
13
14	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16	Section 1.  Effective January 1, 2013, subsection (1) and
17	paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 316.613, Florida
18	Statutes, are amended to read:
19	316.613  Child restraint requirements.-
20	(1)(a)  Each Every operator of a motor vehicle as defined
21	herein, while transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated
22	on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall, if
23	the child is 7 5 years of age or younger and less than 4 feet 9
24	inches in height, provide for protection of the child by
25	properly using a crash-tested, federally approved child
26	restraint device that is appropriate for the height and weight
27	of the child. The device may include a separate carrier, a
28	vehicle manufacturer's integrated child seat, or a child booster
29	seat that displays the child's height and weight specifications
30	for the seat on the attached manufacturer's label as required by
31	Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213. The device must
32	comply with the standards of the United States Department of
33	Transportation and be secured in the motor vehicle in accordance
34	with the manufacturer's instructions. The court may dismiss the
35	charge against a motor vehicle operator for a first violation of
36	this subsection upon proof that a federally approved child
37	restraint device has been purchased or otherwise obtained.
38	1.  For children aged through 3 years, such restraint
39	device must be a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer's
40	integrated child seat.
41	2.  For children aged 4 through 7 5 years who are less than
42	4 feet 9 inches in height, a separate carrier, an integrated
43	child seat, or a child booster seat belt may be used. However,
44	the requirement to use a child restraint device does not apply
45	when a safety belt as required in s. 316.614(4)(a) is used and
46	the person is:
47	a.  Transporting the child gratuitously and in good faith
48	in response to a declared emergency situation or an immediate
49	emergency involving the child; or
50	b.  Transporting a child whose medical condition
51	necessitates an exception as indicated by appropriate
52	documentation from a health professional.
53	(b)  The department shall provide notice of the requirement
54	for child restraint devices, which notice shall accompany the
55	delivery of each motor vehicle license tag.
56	(2)  As used in this section, the term "motor vehicle"
57	means a motor vehicle as defined in s. 316.003 that is operated
58	on the roadways, streets, and highways of the state. The term
59	does not include:
60	(b)  A bus or a passenger vehicle designed to accommodate
61	10 or more persons and used for the transportation of persons
62	for compensation, other than a bus regularly used to transport
63	children to or from school, as defined in s. 316.615(1)(b), or
64	in conjunction with school activities.
65	Section 2.  Effective July 1, 2012, an operator of a motor
66	vehicle who does not violate the then-existing provisions of s.
67	316.613(1)(a), Florida Statutes, but whose conduct would violate
68	that paragraph as amended January 1, 2013, shall be issued a
69	verbal warning and given educational literature by a law
70	enforcement officer.
71	Section 3.  Except as otherwise expressly provided in this
72	act, this act shall take effect July 1, 2012.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.