No. HB 233
Filed under Transportation.
Child Restraint Requirements; Requires certain children to be restrained in child booster seat; provides exceptions; provides penalties.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDChildren who are 6, 7, or 8 years old must now use an approved child restraint device -- before, the requirement stopped at age 5, so this age group needed no device under this section.
For that new age band, the device must specifically be a booster seat, not a full car seat -- unless the child is taller than 4 feet 9 inches, in which case this specific rule does not apply.
The same three exceptions that already excused an optional booster seat for 4- and 5-year-olds now also excuse the new mandatory booster requirement for 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds.
Those exceptions apply when the child instead wears a regular seat belt, and cover gratuitous transport by a driver outside the child's immediate family, a medical emergency, or a documented medical condition.
AIThe device requirement that used to stop at age 5 now applies through age 8, so 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds who previously needed no restraint device under this section must now use one.
AIUnlike the 4-5 tier, which allows a car seat, integrated seat, or booster seat, the new 6-8 tier does not offer a choice: the restraint device must be a child booster seat.
AIA child aged 6 through 8 who is taller than 4 feet 9 inches is excluded from the new booster-seat requirement, regardless of age within that band.
AIThe existing exceptions that let a safety belt substitute for a booster seat now name both the 4-5 tier and the new 6-8 tier, so the same three exceptions excuse compliance with the new mandate too.