I 
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 Representa-
tives 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 re-
straint devices are currently approved for use during crit-
ical phases of flight on commercial passenger aircraft, the 
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 
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shall ensure that research in this area encourages the as-
sessment and development of new and innovative tech-
nologies 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 Com-
mittee 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 re-
strained 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; 
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(3) an evaluation of the requirements to dem-
onstrate 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 Regula-
tions, 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 un-
restrained 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 ti-
tled ‘‘The Performance of Child Restraint Devices in 
Transport Airplane Passenger Seats’’ need to be up-
dated 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 addi-
tional child restraint devices to be used during all 
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phases of flight to keep children, their parents, and 
other passengers safe. 
Æ 
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