[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4573 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4573

   To provide for research on the use of child restraint devices on 
                          commercial aircraft.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2016

Mr. Perlmutter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for research on the use of child restraint devices on 
                          commercial aircraft.

    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 ``Lap Children Safety Research Act''.

SEC. 2. LAP CHILDREN SAFETY RESEARCH.

    (a) In General.--Due to the fact that few child restraint devices 
are currently approved for use during critical phases of flight on 
commercial passenger aircraft, the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration shall ensure that research in this area 
encourages the assessment and development of new and innovative 
technologies and devices which improve the safety for children, 
parents, and other passengers.
    (b) Research.--The Administrator shall require the Civil 
Aeromedical Institute to initiate a research program focused on 
improving the safety of child restraint devices used during operations 
of a commercial passenger aircraft.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Administrator shall transmit a report on the results of 
the research conducted under this section to the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. This report 
shall include--
            (1) an identification of the number of children under age 2 
        traveling each year for the past 5 years on commercial 
        aircraft, and a description of the types or methods of child 
        restraint utilized, if any;
            (2) an assessment of the safety of unrestrained lap 
        children under age 2 (being unrestrained or restrained only by 
        the arms of the child's parent), and whether this situation is 
        the proper comparison for child restraint devices to determine 
        child safety;
            (3) an evaluation of the requirements to demonstrate an 
        equivalent level of safety to TSO-C100c for a child restraint 
        device attached to a parent's seatbelt, or other known child 
        restraint devices;
            (4) an assessment of whether the standards in section 
        571.213 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, can be met by 
        a child restraint device attached to a parent's seatbelt, or 
        other known child restraint devices, and whether certain child 
        restraint devices could offer additional protection compared to 
        an unrestrained lap child;
            (5) the results of any testing performed by or for the 
        Civil Aeromedical Institute, in the last 5 years, in support of 
        any evaluations described in this section;
            (6) a determination of whether the conclusions in the Civil 
        Aeromedical Institute's 1994 report titled ``The Performance of 
        Child Restraint Devices in Transport Airplane Passenger Seats'' 
        need to be updated and the basis for such determination; and
            (7) recommendations to the Administrator and to the 
        Congress on potential changes to the Code of Federal 
        Regulations or relevant laws to allow additional child 
        restraint devices to be used during all phases of flight to 
        keep children, their parents, and other passengers safe.
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