Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 172 concerns the use of child passenger safety seats. The bill as originally introduced pertained to seat belts and child passenger safety belts. The bill would:

• Require the use of child booster seats for a child under the age of 7 but at least 4 years of age who weighs less than 80 pounds but at least 40 pounds;
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• Define "child booster seat" as a child passenger restraint system that meets the federal motor vehicle safety standards set forth in 49 CFR 571.213 that is designed to elevate a child to properly sit in a federally approved lap/shoulder belt system;
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• Provide for a $20 fine for failure to provide a child booster seat;
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• Waive $10 of the fine if a driver provides proof to the court that such driver has purchased a child booster seat;
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• Provide that evidence of failure to secure a child in a child booster seat shall not be admissible in any action for the purpose of determining any aspect of comparative negligence or mitigation of damages;
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• Restore to current law the provision which states that if the number of children exceeds the number of passenger securing locations available, and all securing locations are in use, then there is no violation;
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• Continue the requirement that children under 4 who weigh less than 40 pounds be secured in a child passenger safety restraining system and that seat belts be worn by a child 7 years of age but under 14 or who weighs more than 80 pounds; and
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• Provide that failure to use a booster seat would be a primary offense as is the current failure to use a child passenger safety restraint or seat belt for children under 14 years of age.

Background

The bill was supported in the House Judiciary Committee by the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Kansas Department of Transportation, the Kansas State Association of Nurses, the Kansas Safe Kids Coalition, the American Automobile Association of Kansas, the Kansas Sheriff's Association, the Kansas Public Health Association, and others. Proponents said 17 states currently have a primary seat belt law. The average belt use by states with a secondary law is 63 percent compared to 78 percent when a primary law exists.

Opponents included the motorcyclists' organization ABATE of Kansas and several other persons on the basis that seat belt use is a matter of personal freedom.

The Senate Judiciary Committee deleted provisions of the bill which would have mandated use of seat belts by all occupants of motor vehicles and would have made any failure to use a seat belt a primary offense permitting the stopping of any driver for violations.

The Senate Committee of the Whole added a technical amendment to the definition of "passenger car."

Conferees who supported the bill in the House Transportation Committee included Representative Hermes, the Kansas Department of Transportation, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Kansas Safe Kids Coalition, a pediatric emergency room nurse and coordinator for the Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics of Overland Park, the Kansas State Council of Emergency Room Nurses Association, the Governor's Office, and the Shawnee County District Coroner.

A House Transportation Committee amendment restores a provision of current law which provides that if the number of children subject to the under-14-year-old requirements exceed the number of passenger securing locations in a vehicle, there is no violation of the law. The Committee also restored the current fine of not more than $10 including court costs for seat belt violations.

No opponents testified before the House Transportation Committee.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi