Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs, and Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 52, H.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require that all children under eight years of age who weigh less than eighty pounds be placed in a booster seat when riding in a motor vehicle.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, the Honolulu Police Department, Good Beginnings Alliance, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, State Farm Insurance, and a concerned citizen. The Hawaii Association of Independent Schools submitted comments on this measure.

Your Committee finds that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American youth between the ages of four and fourteen. Among children ages four to eight, ninety per cent of those seriously injured in a crash were not restrained in a booster seat.

Your Committee finds these statistics unacceptable. The safety of our children must be a priority, and the State should do everything possible to ensure that children are properly restrained when riding in a motor vehicle. Therefore, your Committee supports this measure, which requires that all children under eight years old be restrained in a booster seat if they weigh less than eighty pounds.

Unlike similar measures over the past two legislative sessions (which were stalled in various committees or voted down on the floor of the Legislature), this measure contains several exceptions to lessen the impact on parents who fear that they will be unable to transport their children if this measure becomes law.

First, if a child under eight years old weighs over forty pounds or is over four feet nine inches tall, that child can ride while wearing only a seat belt if the automobile is equipped with only lap belts in the rear seat.

Also, if the number of safety devices required cannot physically fit in the automobile, then the oldest children can ride while wearing only a seat belt. For example, if the rear seat contains three seat belts but three safety seats or booster seats cannot be properly installed, then only two seats must be set up, and the youngest children must ride in the seats. The oldest child passenger may ride while wearing the third seat belt.

Your Committee made several amendments to this measure to clarify the terminology, so that it is clear that child safety seats are primarily for children under four years old, and booster seats are designed for children older than four years old.

Your Committee also removed the exemption for children who will turn nine years old by July 1, 2004. This measure takes effect on January 1, 2004, and will affect only children under eight years old as of that date. Therefore, the proposed exemption would have applied to a class of persons that could not exist.

With these amendments, your Committee believes that this measure is reasonable and necessary to protect the children in the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs, and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 52, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 52, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.