Children under 13 could not ride in a car’s front seat under a bill now in the California Legislature.
The legislation would also raise to 10 the age at which a child no longer has to use a booster seat in a vehicle.
Assembly Bill 435, by Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), proposes revising the state’s vehicle code with the more restrictive rules concerning child passengers. It passed its first committee vote last month, with 12 Democrats voting for it and four Republicans abstaining.
Under the current vehicle code, children up to 8 years old must ride in the back seat. A child restraint seat or booster seat is required until a child is 8 or taller than 4-foot-9.
The new proposals:
- Children under 13 must be in the back seat.
- For those up to age 10, a booster seat or child restraint seat would be required.
- Children ages 10-13 could ride without a booster if they are safely restrained by a shoulder belt.
- At age 13, children would be allowed in the front seat as long as they are “acceptably restrained by a safety belt.”
At age 16, the rules for adult passengers would apply.
For age 10 and up, the bill removes the height threshold for leaving a booster seat and instead designates a test for safe use of a shoulder belt: When the child is sitting all the way back, the knees must bend over the edge of the seat; the belt goes across the shoulder and chest, not the neck; and the lap belt is across the thighs.
AB 435 specifies a starting date of Jan. 1, 2027.
The most recent change in California’s child passenger rules took effect in 2012, when restraint seats or boosters were mandated for those up to age 8 or 4-foot-9 — which, according to U.S. growth charts, is an average height for a 10- to 12-year-old boy or girl. The previous law required restraint seats or boosters until age 6 or 60 pounds.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the 2012 law, by Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), after similar restrictions were twice vetoed by his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.