SB 72-CHILD SAFETY SEATS & SEAT BELTS 2:47:50 PM CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 72(STA), "An Act relating to use of child safety seats and seat belts." 2:48:21 PM SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH, Alaska State Legislature, as the prime sponsor of the bill read a portion of his sponsor statement, as follows: [original punctuation provided] Booster seats save lives. Of the 61 children under the age of eight injured in auto accidents in Alaska between 2001 and 2005, only five were considered properly restrained by federal standards. Nearly two thirds of those 61 children were between the ages of four to eight, making the injured too large for a child safety seat but too small for an adult seat belt. Current Alaska law requires the use of proper safety devices for children under the age of 16 as approved by the US Department of Transportation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that children under 80 pounds and under 57 [inches] use a child safety seat or a belt positioning booster seat. SENATOR FRENCH explained that the booster seats basically lift the child so that the seatbelt strikes them at the "right part of their body" where their muscular skeleton can stop the impact of a crash. He concluded by stating that is the basic overview of the bill. 2:50:03 PM CHAIR WILSON announced that SB 72 will be held over.