Bill Text: FL S0316 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Child-restraint Requirements/Motor Vehicles [CPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Messages [S0316 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0316-Comm_Sub.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                       CS for CS for SB 316 
 
By the Committees on Criminal Justice; and Transportation; and 
Senator Altman 
591-02748-10                                           2010316c2 
1                        A bill to be entitled 
2         An act relating to child-restraint requirements; 
3         amending s. 316.613, F.S.; providing child-restraint 
4         requirements for certain children ages 4 through 7; 
5         providing certain exceptions; redefining the term 
6         “motor vehicle” to exclude certain vehicles from such 
7         requirements; providing a grace period; providing 
8         effective dates. 
9 
10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
11 
12         Section 1. Effective January 1, 2011, subsection (1) and 
13  paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 316.613, Florida 
14  Statutes, are amended to read: 
15         316.613 Child restraint requirements.— 
16         (1)(a) Each Every operator of a motor vehicle as defined 
17  herein, while transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated 
18  on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall, if 
19  the child is 7 5 years of age or younger and is less than 4 feet 
20  9 inches in height, provide for protection of the child by 
21  properly using a crash-tested, federally approved child 
22  restraint device that is appropriate for the height and weight 
23  of the child. The device may include a vehicle manufacturer’s 
24  integrated child seat, a separate child safety seat, or a child 
25  booster seat that displays the child’s weight and height 
26  specifications for the seat on the attached manufacturer’s label 
27  as required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213. 
28  The device must comply with the standards of the United States 
29  Department of Transportation and be secured in the motor vehicle 
30  in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. The court 
31  may dismiss the charge against a motor vehicle operator for a 
32  first violation of this subsection upon proof that a federally 
33  approved child restraint device has been purchased or otherwise 
34  obtained. 
35         (b) For children aged through 3 years, such restraint 
36  device must be a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer’s 
37  integrated child seat. 
38         (c) For children aged 4 through 7 5 years who are less than 
39  4 feet 9 inches in height, a separate carrier, an integrated 
40  child seat, or a child booster seat belt may be used. However, 
41  the requirement to use a child booster seat does not apply when 
42  a separate carrier, integrated child seat, or seat belt as 
43  required in s. 316.614(4)(a) is used and the person is: 
44         1. Transporting the child gratuitously and in good faith in 
45  response to a declared emergency situation or an immediate 
46  emergency involving the child; or 
47         2. Transporting a child whose medical condition 
48  necessitates an exception as evidenced by appropriate 
49  documentation from a health professional. 
50         (d)(b) The Division of Motor Vehicles shall provide notice 
51  of the requirement for child restraint devices, which notice 
52  shall accompany the delivery of each motor vehicle license tag. 
53         (2) As used in this section, the term “motor vehicle” means 
54  a motor vehicle as defined in s. 316.003 that is operated on the 
55  roadways, streets, and highways of the state. The term does not 
56  include: 
57         (b) A bus or a passenger vehicle designed to accommodate 10 
58  or more persons and used for the transportation of persons for 
59  compensation, other than a bus regularly used to transport 
60  children to or from school, as defined in s. 316.615(1)(b), or 
61  in conjunction with school activities. 
62         Section 2. Effective July 1, 2010, a driver of a motor 
63  vehicle who does not violate the then-existing provisions of s. 
64  316.613(1)(c), Florida Statutes, but whose conduct would violate 
65  that provision, as amended January 1, 2011, shall be issued a 
66  verbal warning and given educational literature by a law 
67  enforcement officer. 
68         Section 3. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this 
69  act, this act shall take effect July 1, 2010.