CCS/HS/HCS/SS/SB 121 - This act makes various changes to the seat belt law aimed at increasing passenger safety:

SEAT BELTS FOR CHILDREN: All passengers in a car, age 4 through age 15, must wear seat belts, whether they sit in the front or back seat. Current law only requires child passengers to be fastened when they sit in the front seat.

PRIMARY ENFORCEMENT: An officer may stop a driver for the sole reason that one or more passengers age 4 to 15 are not wearing seat belts. An officer may not stop a driver solely because such driver is not wearing a seat belt. A driver does not violate the seat belt law if there are more persons than available seat belts in the vehicle.

SEAT BELTS IN PICKUP TRUCKS: All drivers and front seat passengers of pickup trucks with a gross weight of less than 12,000 pounds, and all persons under age 18, are required to wear seat belts. Currently, 40 states require seat belt use in pickups.

NO RIDING BY MINORS IN OPEN BED OF PICKUPS: No driver of a pickup truck shall transport any passenger under age 18 in the unenclosed bed of a pickup truck while operating such vehicle on the public highways of this state or within the city limits of a city, except when such passenger is one of the following: 1) an employee engaged in necessary duties; 2) a person transporting unprocessed agricultural products; 3) a person riding in the open bed during a parade or caravan; 4) a person who is secured in the bed of the truck; 5) a person participating in a "special event" (defined); 6) a person who is providing assistance to, or ensuring the safety of, other persons engaged in recreational activity; or 7) a person who rides in a truck which is the only legally titled vehicle of such person's family and there is insufficient room for all passengers to ride inside the truck.

A driver who operates a truck in violation of this provision is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

OTHER: Registration fees for commercial vehicles and trailers shall be payable by the last day of February of each year. A person who has a historical vehicle shall be exempt from the prohibition against tinted glass.

JAMES KLAHR