BOSTON,  March 1 -- The co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint
Committee on Public Safety today said he believes a bill prohibiting adults
from leaving children unattended in cars is likely to pass this year, after
several years of failure.

Constitutional concerns that stem from the bill's attempt to legislate
parenting habits are being addressed in a compromise bill that will
incorporate aspects of bills filed by committee co-chair Sen. James Jajuga
(D-Methuen) and Rep. John Locke (R-Wellesley).  As envisioned, the bill
gives judges leeway to determine whether parents or guardians were abusive
or neglectful, and to distinguish between cases in which kids are left for
extended periods or for a minute or two.

Whether intentionally or inadvertently, Jajuga and Locke say, too many
adults are leaving kids in cars while they run errands that sometimes take
longer than originally anticipated.  Locke told the committee today that in
the summer, the temperature in a car with its windows up can soar by 30
degrees in just 10 minutes.  Other dangers: carjackings, kids left in cars
in the cold could freeze, and the possibility of idle children fooling
around and setting vehicles in motion. 

Locke's bill (H 1235) establishes nine factors to help determine whether an
adult has left a child under the age of 8 in a car "without regard for the
mental or physical health, safety and welfare of the child."  The
conditions are designed to prevent prosecution in questionable cases.

"This bill has protections built into it," Locke said, noting he is not
seeking to crack down on a parent who leaves a child to conduct an ATM
transaction or pump gas at a self-serve station.

MBTA Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin supported the bill, saying children are
"severely injured and killed on a regular basis" throughout the country due
to being left alone in cars. The lack of a law addressing the issue means
that police "are pretty much hamstrung when we encounter these situations,"
O'Loughlin said, adding that adults caught in such situations often want to
flee. "The one thing they want to do is get away from people like me," said
O'Loughlin.   

Locke said he does not want to micromanage parenting skills.  Rather, his
bill attempts to give the police and other emergency personnel more options
when they find children left unattended in cars.  "This is something they
deal with more than any of us really appreciates," Locke said.

In recent years, supporters of the kids-in-cars bill have said current laws
afford more protections to dogs or cats left in cars than kids.  Despite
the arguments, the bill has never won passage in the House or Senate.
"Like everything else, it got bogged down," said Jajuga.  

This year will be different, Jajuga says.  "Obviously this is a priority of
mine and I'm going to keep pursuing this," he said.  "I think this is the
year."
 

Jajuga said that since the bill was introduced several years ago, there's
been anxiety among some about the potential for an overzealous application
of the new law.  "It's touchy," he said.  "It had people filled with anxiety."

Jajuga said his bill on the same subject, co-sponsored by Essex County
District Attorney Kevin Burke, is less restrictive than Locke's.  But
Jajuga, a former policeman, and Locke said they are both out to give law
enforcers more options in cases where a child's welfare is blatantly ignored.

That was the case recently in Lawrence, Jajuga said, when law enforcers
learned that two parents had left their children in a parked car while they
went on a search to buy cocaine and heroin.

Locke's bill requires the following factors to be considered when deciding
if a child has been left without regard for his or her mental or physical
health, safety and welfare: the child's age; special needs; amount of time
left unattended; time of day or night; weather conditions; location of the
supervising adult; age and physical and mental capabilities of the parent
or guardian; whether conduct is attributable to economic hardship or
illness; distance between an unattended child and the supervisor; and any
other relevant factors.  

The bill also calls for a $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail for
first offenders.  On second and subsequent violations, offenders would face
fines of up to $5,000 and up to a year in jail.  It requires police to
notify the Department of Social Services of any offenses.  It authorizes
police to transport neglected children to hospitals for observation and
treatment.  And it absolves police of civil liability as long as officers
act "in good faith and in compliance with the law."
 

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