Bill Text: FL S0196 | 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 Budget [S0196 Detail]

Download: Florida-2012-S0196-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 196
       
       
       
       By Senator Altman
       
       
       
       
       24-00001-12                                            2012196__
    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 device
   39  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 in
   48  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” means
   57  a motor vehicle as defined in s. 316.003 that is operated on the
   58  roadways, streets, and highways of the state. The term does not
   59  include:
   60         (b) A bus or a passenger vehicle designed to accommodate 10
   61  or more persons and used for the transportation of persons for
   62  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.