[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2230 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2230

   To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to 
  reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring inside or 
           outside of motor vehicles, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 10, 2005

 Mr. King of New York (for himself and Ms. Schakowsky) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to 
  reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring inside or 
           outside of motor vehicles, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars 
Safety Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. RULEMAKING REGARDING CHILD SAFETY.

    (a) Power Window Safety.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue 
regulations applicable to all light passenger vehicles to ensure that 
power windows and panels automatically reverse direction when they 
detect an obstruction to prevent children from being trapped, injured, 
or killed.
    (b) Driver Reminder System.--Not later than 18 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
issue regulations applicable to all light passenger vehicles requiring 
a system of driver notification or reminder system once the ignition 
switch is in the off position if passengers remain in any of the rear 
seating positions of the vehicle.
    (c) Rearward Visibility.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue 
regulations applicable to all light passenger vehicles requiring a 
rearward visibility performance standard that will provide drivers with 
an unobstructed view of the area behind the vehicle in order to prevent 
backing incidents involving death and injury especially to small 
children and disabled persons.
    (d) Phase in Period.--The regulations issued under subsections (a), 
(b), and (c) shall require that a phase-in period for compliance with 
the regulations shall commence not later than 6 months after the date 
such regulations are final, and shall require that all new light 
passenger vehicles shall be fully in compliance with such regulations 
not later than September 1, 2010.
    (e) Database on Injuries and Deaths in Nontraffic, Noncrash 
Events.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
        establish and maintain a database of, and collect annually data 
        regarding injuries and deaths in nontraffic, noncrash events 
        involving motor vehicles. The database shall include 
        information regarding--
                    (A) the number, types, and proximate causes of 
                injuries and deaths resulting from such events;
                    (B) the characteristics of motor vehicles involved 
                in such events;
                    (C) the characteristics of the motor vehicle 
                operators and victims involved in such events; and
                    (D) the presence or absence in motor vehicles 
                involved in such events of advanced technologies 
                designed to prevent such injuries and deaths.
            (2) Availability.--The Secretary shall make the database 
        available to the public.

SEC. 3. CHILD SAFETY INFORMATION PROGRAM.

    Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Transportation shall either supplement a consumer 
information program relating to child safety or create a new program 
with information about hazards to children in nontraffic, noncrash 
incident situations. In executing this program, the Secretary shall--
            (1) utilize information collected pursuant to section 2(e) 
        regarding nontraffic, noncrash injuries, as well as other 
        relevant data from private organizations, to establish 
        priorities for the program;
            (2) address ways in which parents can mitigate dangers to 
        small children arising from, at a minimum, backover incidents, 
        hyperthermia in closed vehicles, and accidental actuation of 
        power windows; and
            (3) make information related to the program available to 
        the public via the Internet and through other means.
                                 <all>