by Guest » Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:30 pm
My hubby found this today-
08-25) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Parents will have to strap their kids into backseat car booster seats until they are 8 years old or reach a certain height if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill the Legislature sent to him Thursday.
Another bill that appears headed to the governor's desk attempts to protect children's health by making it illegal for adults to smoke in a car with young passengers.
California law now requires children younger than 6 or weighing less than 60 pounds to use booster seats -- and sit in the backseat.
"Traffic accidents are the highest cause of fatality for children ages 6 and 7," said the bill's author, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. "This is a serious, serious issue.
"Children aged 4 to 8 who use booster seats are 59 percent less likely to be injured in a car crash than children restrained only with a seat belt, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study," Evans said.
The bill would implement the safety agency's recommendation that children should be in a car seat or use a booster seat until they are 8. The agency made that recommendation when California became the first state to adopt car seat requirements for children up to age 6 in 2002 under legislation by state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough.
Republican lawmakers offered the same objections to Evans' bill as they did to Speier's earlier measure -- parents should decide what's safe for their children.
"This is nanny government," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, a 6-foot-4 legislator who said his two tall daughters would be "extremely uncomfortable" should Evans' bill become law.
The 80-member Assembly sent the bill to the GOP governor on a 45-22 vote.
Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill as yet, a spokeswoman said. If he signs it, the law would take effect Jan. 1.
Drivers caught not using a car seat or a booster seat or allowing their children 12 and under to ride in the front seat would be charged with an infraction and fined $100 for the first offense. The second offense would carry a $250 fine.
It's likely the fine a driver would actually pay would be much higher since most localities tack various penalty assessments on most traffic infractions.
A court can, however, waive the fine if the offending driver attends a "community education program" that instructs the driver on how to install and use passenger restraint systems. Proof of participation would eliminate the fine.
Sixty percent of the fines collected under this bill would go to local health departments or other local entities to help pay for creating such "community education programs."
Initially, Evans' bill required children under 13 to sit in the backseat, but she dropped the provision.
"Some members complained about that because they said the only time they had to talk to their teenagers was when they took them to school," Evans said.
The federal transportation safety administration recommends that once kids outgrow the kind of car seats with built-in harnesses, they sit on booster seats -- raised platforms -- so that seat belts buckle across their shoulders, restraining them rather than injuring them should there be an accident.
Evans' bill, AB2108, contains some exceptions.
One is welcome news to DeVore's daughters and to volleyball or basketball team members: Any child taller than 4 foot 9 doesn't need a booster seat.
Kids can also sit in the front seat -- but still use a booster seat unless they exceed the height threshold -- if there is no backseat, the backseats face backward, the backseat can't accommodate a restraint system, the backseats are already filled with kids 7 years of age or younger, or proof of a medical condition that prevents a child from being in the backseat.
Evans' is not the only measure affecting children in cars.
Pending on the Senate floor is a bill that would make it an infraction for a person to smoke a pipe, cigar or cigarette in a vehicle -- whether moving or at rest -- if one of the passengers is a child in a child restraint system.
A fine of up to $100 would be assessed against the driver or passenger who was smoking.
Supporters say the bill is needed to protect young children from second-hand smoke.
My hubby found this today-
08-25) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Parents will have to strap their kids into backseat car booster seats until they are 8 years old or reach a certain height if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill the Legislature sent to him Thursday.
Another bill that appears headed to the governor's desk attempts to protect children's health by making it illegal for adults to smoke in a car with young passengers.
California law now requires children younger than 6 or weighing less than 60 pounds to use booster seats -- and sit in the backseat.
"Traffic accidents are the highest cause of fatality for children ages 6 and 7," said the bill's author, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. "This is a serious, serious issue.
"Children aged 4 to 8 who use booster seats are 59 percent less likely to be injured in a car crash than children restrained only with a seat belt, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study," Evans said.
The bill would implement the safety agency's recommendation that children should be in a car seat or use a booster seat until they are 8. The agency made that recommendation when California became the first state to adopt car seat requirements for children up to age 6 in 2002 under legislation by state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough.
Republican lawmakers offered the same objections to Evans' bill as they did to Speier's earlier measure -- parents should decide what's safe for their children.
"This is nanny government," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, a 6-foot-4 legislator who said his two tall daughters would be "extremely uncomfortable" should Evans' bill become law.
The 80-member Assembly sent the bill to the GOP governor on a 45-22 vote.
Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill as yet, a spokeswoman said. If he signs it, the law would take effect Jan. 1.
Drivers caught not using a car seat or a booster seat or allowing their children 12 and under to ride in the front seat would be charged with an infraction and fined $100 for the first offense. The second offense would carry a $250 fine.
It's likely the fine a driver would actually pay would be much higher since most localities tack various penalty assessments on most traffic infractions.
A court can, however, waive the fine if the offending driver attends a "community education program" that instructs the driver on how to install and use passenger restraint systems. Proof of participation would eliminate the fine.
Sixty percent of the fines collected under this bill would go to local health departments or other local entities to help pay for creating such "community education programs."
Initially, Evans' bill required children under 13 to sit in the backseat, but she dropped the provision.
"Some members complained about that because they said the only time they had to talk to their teenagers was when they took them to school," Evans said.
The federal transportation safety administration recommends that once kids outgrow the kind of car seats with built-in harnesses, they sit on booster seats -- raised platforms -- so that seat belts buckle across their shoulders, restraining them rather than injuring them should there be an accident.
Evans' bill, AB2108, contains some exceptions.
One is welcome news to DeVore's daughters and to volleyball or basketball team members: Any child taller than 4 foot 9 doesn't need a booster seat.
Kids can also sit in the front seat -- but still use a booster seat unless they exceed the height threshold -- if there is no backseat, the backseats face backward, the backseat can't accommodate a restraint system, the backseats are already filled with kids 7 years of age or younger, or proof of a medical condition that prevents a child from being in the backseat.
Evans' is not the only measure affecting children in cars.
Pending on the Senate floor is a bill that would make it an infraction for a person to smoke a pipe, cigar or cigarette in a vehicle -- whether moving or at rest -- if one of the passengers is a child in a child restraint system.
A fine of up to $100 would be assessed against the driver or passenger who was smoking.
Supporters say the bill is needed to protect young children from second-hand smoke.