Bill Text: CA SCR77 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Child Passenger Safety Week.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-3)

Status: (Passed) 2017-09-22 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 184, Statutes of 2017. [SCR77 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SCR77-Introduced.html

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Concurrent Resolution

No. 77

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Introduced by Senator Dodd
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Fuller, and Nguyen)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Frazier)

August 21, 2017

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Relative to Child Passenger Safety Week.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 77, as introduced, Dodd. Child Passenger Safety Week.

This measure would recognize the 3rd week of September 2017 and the 3rd week of September every year thereafter, as Child Passenger Safety Week.

Digest Key

Fiscal Committee: NO  

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Bill Text

WHEREAS, Automobile collisions in the United States are the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for children, accounting for 25 percent of all unintentional injury deaths, and taking the lives of more than 50 California youths under 14 years of age annually; and

WHEREAS, Seventy-one percent of small children involved in fatal crashes would have survived if they had been properly restrained in child safety seats; and

WHEREAS, Continued efforts must be supported to inform parents of the most effective passenger safety practices, such as having children ride rear-facing until two years of age and in the back seat because it is the safest place for children of any age to ride, especially those 12 years of age and under; and

WHEREAS, Research indicates that critical misuse of child restraints is approximately 90 percent; and

WHEREAS, The use of booster seats reduces injuries to child occupants four to eight years of age, inclusive, by 45 percent; and

WHEREAS, While many educational and enforcement efforts target the proper restraints for infant and toddler passengers, increased efforts must also target the proper restraints for child passengers, four to eight years of age, inclusive, who are still at great risk; and

WHEREAS, Studies show that 9 out of 10 parents move their children from a booster seat to a seat belt before their children are big enough to stop using a booster seat; and

WHEREAS, The State of California requires that all occupants use seat belts correctly on every ride and that children ride in the back seat until they are at least eight years of age; and

WHEREAS, Nonprofit organizations like the American Automobile Association of Northern California, Nevada and Utah, and the Automobile Club of Southern California implement year-round child passenger safety programs that offer free education or free car seat inspections to the general public by certified child passenger safety technicians; and

WHEREAS, The Department of the California Highway Patrol’s Child Passenger Safety program has worked for decades to reduce the mileage death rate among children through traffic safety presentations, child passenger restraint system contributions, and child protective services technician trainings; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the third week of September 2017, and the third week of September every year thereafter, as Child Passenger Safety Week; and be it further

Resolved, That law enforcement, public health and health care organizations, passenger safety specialists, and child advocates are encouraged to observe Child Passenger Safety Week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and educational activities and to continue their diligent year-round efforts to ensure the safety of California’s children through enforcement and public education of our child passenger restraint laws and effective passenger safety practices; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.