HBA-DMH H.B. 1739 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1739 By: Martinez Fischer Transportation 7/25/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car accidents are a leading cause of death among children in the United States. 1997 traffic statistics for Houston reveal that 61 percent of child passengers in motor vehicles were not properly restrained by seat belts or child safety seats. Increasing the fine for violations relating to improperly restrained child passengers may decrease the number of child fatalities involving motor vehicles. House Bill 1739 increases the penalty for offenses relating to the improper use of child safety belts and child passenger safety seats, and requires a judge who elects to defer a traffic offense proceeding to require a defendant to complete an approved child passenger safety seat educational program. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1739 amends the Transportation Code to increase from not less than $25 or more than $50 to not less than $100 or more than $200 the fine for a child safety belt or child passenger safety seat system violation involving a child younger than 15 years of age. The bill requires a judge who elects to defer further traffic offense proceedings and to place a defendant on probation to require the defendant to successfully complete a specialized driving safety course approved by the Texas Education Agency under the Texas Driver and Traffic Safety Education Act that includes four hours of instruction that encourages the use of child passenger safety seat systems and the wearing of seat belts, in lieu of requiring the defendant to complete a driving safety course approved by the Texas Education Agency. The bill specifies that the course should emphasize: _the effectiveness of child passenger safety seat systems and seat belts in reducing the harm to children being transported in motor vehicles; and _the requirements of state law and the penalty for noncompliance. The bill requires a municipality or county, at the end of the municipality's or county's fiscal year, to send to the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller) an amount equal to 50 percent of the fines collected by the municipality or the county for violations of child passenger safety seat and seat belt laws. The bill requires the comptroller to deposit the amount received to the credit of the tertiary care fund for use by trauma centers. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.