By: Naishtat H.B. No. 4551
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring child passenger safety seat systems for
children receiving medical assistance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 545.412, Transportation Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 545.412. CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY SEAT SYSTEMS;
OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the person operates a
passenger vehicle, transports a child who is younger than five
years of age and less than 36 inches in height, and does not keep the
child secured during the operation of the vehicle in a child
passenger safety seat system according to the instructions of the
manufacturer of the safety seat system.
(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $200.
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
the person was operating the vehicle in an emergency or for a law
enforcement purpose.
(d) Repealed by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 204, Sec. 8.01.
(e) This section does not apply to a person:
(1) operating a vehicle transporting passengers for
hire, excluding [including] third-party transport service
providers when transporting clients pursuant to a contract to
provide nonemergency Medicaid transportation; or
(2) transporting a child in a vehicle in which all
seating positions equipped with child passenger safety seat systems
or safety belts are occupied.
(f) In this section:
(1) "Child passenger safety seat system" means an
infant or child passenger restraint system that meets the federal
standards for crash-tested restraint systems as set by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
(2) "Passenger vehicle" means a passenger car, light
truck, sport utility vehicle, truck, or truck tractor.
(3) "Safety belt" means a lap belt and any shoulder
straps included as original equipment on or added to a vehicle.
(4) "Secured," in connection with use of a safety
belt, means using the lap belt and any shoulder straps according to
the instructions of:
(A) the manufacturer of the vehicle, if the
safety belt is original equipment; or
(B) the manufacturer of the safety belt, if the
safety belt has been added to the vehicle.
(g) A judge, acting under Article 45.0511, Code of Criminal
Procedure, who elects to defer further proceedings and to place a
defendant accused of a violation of this section on probation under
that article, in lieu of requiring the defendant to complete a
driving safety course approved by the Texas Education Agency, shall
require the defendant to attend and present proof that the
defendant has successfully completed a specialized driving safety
course approved by the Texas Education Agency under the Texas
Driver and Traffic Safety Education Act (Article 4413(29c),
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) that includes four hours of
instruction that encourages the use of child passenger safety seat
systems and the wearing of seat belts and emphasizes:
(1) the effectiveness of child passenger safety seat
systems and seat belts in reducing the harm to children being
transported in motor vehicles; and
(2) the requirements of this section and the penalty
for noncompliance.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 542.402(a), a municipality or
county, at the end of the municipality's or county's fiscal year,
shall send to the comptroller an amount equal to 50 percent of the
fines collected by the municipality or the county for violations of
this section. The comptroller shall deposit the amount received to
the credit of the tertiary care fund for use by trauma centers.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.