Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A bill making it a crime to leave a child unattended in a vehicle was approved by the Senate on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 287 would make it a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. But it allows the judge to drop the charge if the person who left the child unattended takes an education course on the subject.
"In this bill, the focus is education," Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, said. "Yes there is a misdemeanor but it's getting the parents in front of the courts so they can send them to a program in education. You notice the judge can dismiss it."
The bill, which goes to the Assembly, provides that any child who is 7 or younger should not be left in a car unless supervised by someone at least 12 years old.
The bill provides that the court records in such cases would be sealed if the charges are dismissed. But it would permit a prosecuting attorney to inspect the records to determine if the person had been cited previously for the same offense.
Titus introduced a similar bill two years ago and it was approved by the Senate 20-0 but died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. She said Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, is a co-sponsor of the bill this session and "He will be able to answer questions over there." Horne is vice chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
The bill two years ago carried a penalty of a $300 fine. And it required that the supervision must be done by a child of 14 years old.
The vote in the Senate Wednesday was 20-1 with Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, dissenting.
After the vote, Carlton said she had some questions about the bill but there was no explanation on the floor. She said she "had some concerns that thinking because there was a 12-year-old in the car that it's OK to leave kids in a car."
"I know some seven-year-olds that are a little brighter than 12-year-olds," she said.
"I wasn't sure where the bill was trying to go -- what it was trying to accomplish -- I read it and read it and I was hoping there would be an explanation of what it was going to change and it never came up," she said.
Carlton said the bill was processed so fast that she didn't have a chance to stand up and ask for an explanation.
Wiener, in the Judiciary Committee, said the 12-year-old was chosen because that's the age when they begin babysitting.
There was testimony before the Senate Transportation Committee that 16 youngsters died after being left alone in vehicles in Las Vegas since 1966.
In all of those cases, the children were killed by the overheating that can take place in cars during the region's brutal summers. After the bill was passed by the Senate, however, Wiener said, "It's not just about heat."
Titus said you see parents parked or double-parked in front of an elementary school in Las Vegas in the morning or afternoon, picking up their children. And they may leave another youngster in the car that is running.
"What about the risk that that child disengages the gear and that puts other children at risk?" said Titus.
"It's about anything that puts the child in risk," Wiener said. "This is not about whether they are a good or bad parents. It (leaving a child unattended in a vehicle) is just a mistake a substantial part of the time."
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