AN ACT to modify the child restraint system requirements as recommended by the child fatality task force.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑137.1(a1) reads as rewritten:
"(a1)	A child less than eight years of age and less than 80 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a weight‑appropriate child passenger restraint system. In vehicles equipped with an active passenger‑side front air bag, if the vehicle has a rear seat, a child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a rear seat, unless the child restraint system is designed for use with air bags. If no seating position equipped with a lap and shoulder belt to properly secure the weight‑appropriate child passenger restraint system is available, a child less than eight years of age and between 40 and 80 pounds may be restrained by a properly fitted lap belt only."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 20‑137.1(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Any driver found responsible for a violation of this section may be punished by a penalty not to exceed twenty‑five dollars ($25.00), even when more than one child less than 16 years of age was not properly secured in a restraint system. No driver charged under this section for failure to have a child under eight years of age properly secured in a restraint system shall be convicted if he produces at the time of his trial proof satisfactory to the court that he has subsequently acquired an approved child passenger restraint system for a vehicle in which the child is normally transported."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective January 1, 2005.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15th day of July, 2004.

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		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

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		 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2004