Child Passenger Protection Act

Summary: Child Passenger Protection Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to enter into contracts with, and make grants to, State highway offices and other experienced child passenger safety organizations to distribute national, State, and local motor vehicle child restraint education programs and supporting educational materials. 
Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Child Passenger Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Annually the losses in the United States from motor 
        vehicle collisions is estimated to be over 800 deaths and over 
        80,000 injuries to children through the age of 4.
            (2) Properly used child restraints in motor vehicles can 
        reduce the chance of serious or fatal injury in a motor vehicle 
        collision by 69 percent for infants and 47 percent for toddlers 
        through the age of 4.
            (3) Some of the most common seating position designs that 
        have emerged in motor vehicles during the last decade make 
        secure installation of child restraints difficult and, in some 
        circumstances, impossible.
            (4) Results from regional child restraint clinics have 
        shown that 70 to 90 percent of child restraints are improperly 
        installed or otherwise misused largely due to the complication 
        and wide variation of seat belt and child restraint designs.
            (5) There is an immediate need to expand the availability 
        of national, State, and local child restraint education 
        programs and supporting resources and materials to help 
        agencies and associated organizations to carry out effective 
        public education in child restraints.

SEC. 3. CHILD PASSENGER EDUCATION.

    (a) Awards.--The Secretary may enter into contracts or cooperative 
agreements with, and may make grants to, State highway offices and 
other experienced child passenger safety organizations to obtain and 
distribute national, State, and local child restraint education 
programs and supporting educational materials.
    (b) Use of Funds.--Funds provided under a contract, cooperative 
agreement, or grant under subsection (a) shall be used to implement 
child restraint programs which are designed to prevent deaths and 
injuries to children through the age of 4 and which--
            (1) educate the public in all aspects of proper 
        installation of child restraints using standard seat belt 
        hardware, supplemental hardware and modification devices where 
        needed, and special installation techniques;
            (2) educate the public in appropriate child restraint 
        design selection and placement and in harness threading and 
        harness adjustment; and
            (3) train and retrain child passenger safety professionals, 
        police officers, fire and emergency medical personnel, and 
        other educators in all aspects of child restraint use.
    (c) Distribution of Funds.--An entity which receives funds under a 
contract, cooperative agreement, or grant under subsection (a) shall in 
carrying out subsection (b)--
            (1) use not more than 25 percent of such funds on existing 
        nationwide child restraint education programs;
            (2) use not more than 25 percent of such funds on existing 
        State child restraint education programs; and
            (3) use at least 50 percent of such funds to implement new 
        national, State, and local child restraint education programs.

SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS AND REPORTS.

    (a) Applications.--An entity desiring a contract, cooperative 
agreement, or grant under section 3(a) shall submit an application to 
the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such 
information as the Secretary may reasonably require.
    (b) Reports.--An entity which receives a contract, cooperative 
agreement, or grant under section 3(a) shall prepare and submit to the 
Secretary an annual report during the period in which it receives funds 
under such contract, cooperative agreement, or grant. Such a report 
shall contain such information as the Secretary may require and shall, 
at a minimum, describe the program activities undertaken with such 
funds, including--
            (1) any child restraint education program that has been 
        developed directly or indirectly by such entity and the target 
        population of such program;
            (2) support materials for such a program that have been 
        obtained by such entity and the method by which the entity 
        distributed such materials; and
            (3) any initiatives undertaken by such entity to develop 
        public-private partnerships to secure non-Federal support for 
        the development and distribution of child restraint education 
        programs and materials.

SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    The Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Congress an annual 
report on the implementation of this Act which includes a description 
of the programs undertaken and materials developed and distributed by 
entities receiving funds under section 3(a).

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    For the purpose of carrying out section 3 of this Act, there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $7,500,000 for each of 
the fiscal years 1998 and 1999, of which not more than $350,000 may be 
spent in any fiscal year for administrative costs.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Transportation;
            (2) the term ``child restraint education programs'' 
        includes publications, audiovisual presentations, 
        demonstrations, and computerized programs; and
            (3) the term ``State'' means any State of the United 
        States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
        Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 
        the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or 
        possession of the United States.