BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT REPORT	Page 1 of  1

DATE: February 20, 2001	Submitted by: TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPT.
	T. GLENN ELLINGTON, SECRETARY
BILL NUMBER: SB-752

SPONSOR: Senator Lopez

BILL SHORT TITLE: Changing requirements for use of safety belts. 

CONFLICTS, DUPLICATES, COMPANIONS: SB-499 

DESCRIPTION: This bill would require all passengers under the age of 18 to be restrained while riding in passenger vehicles, vans and pickup trucks in New Mexico with some exceptions. Exceptions include riding in authorized emergency vehicles, public transportation and school buses. The measure would also require children under one-year of age to be secured in a rear facing child passenger restraint that meets federal standards. The proposal would also require children under one-year of age to ride in the back seat of a vehicle unless the passenger side air bag in the vehicle's front seat has been deactivated. 
	The measure also requires children aged one to four regardless of weight and, if they weigh under 40 pounds, regardless of age, to be secured in passenger restraints (i.e. special seats secured by seat belts). Current statutes simply require children aged one through five to be restrained via seat belts or other devices. The legislation further requires children aged five through twelve to be secured by a seat belt in the rear seat of a vehicle equipped with a rear seat unless all available seating positions are occupied by passengers twelve years of age or younger. Current statute require merely that children between the ages of five and eleven must wear safety belts in any seat of the vehicle. The proposal further stipulates that individuals between the ages of thirteen and eighteen must be secured by safety belts in the front or rear seats of vehicles. Current statute does not require individuals in this age group to be restrained when riding in the rear seats of vehicles. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2001

FISCAL IMPACT (Thousands of dollars): No significant impacts on state or local revenue sources would result from enactment of the proposed measure.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT: The proposed measure would impose no significant administrative impacts on the Department or local governments.
 
TECHNICAL ISSUES: In cases of vehicles not equipped with rear seats, the proposed measure would require deactivation of passenger-side air bags in the front seat -- when children under one-year of age are transported. Hence in absence of some convenient mechanism for deactivating and reactivating air bags, when adults ride in a vehicle in which the passenger-side air bag is deactivated to accommodate infants, the adults would not be protected by air bags. In practice, it might be difficult for enforcement officers to determine whether the front seat  passenger side air bag has been deactivated. It might therefore be more appropriate to simply specify that children under one year of age are required to ride in rear seats of vehicles equipped with rear seats.

OTHER IMPACTS AND ISSUES: none.