S.D. Booster Seat Law Upheld after Override Attempt Failed

Booster seats will not be required for children who are 5, 6 and 7 years old in South Dakota.

The House failed this week to override Gov. Mike Rounds’ veto of the legislation, meaning it is dead.

Although HB1189 would have required booster seats for children who are too big for child-safety seats but not yet big enough to be properly restrained in seat belts, it provided no penalty. Officers could only have issued warning tickets.

“It does not criminalize South Dakotans for failure to place children in a booster seat,” emphasized Rep. Mark Willadsen, R-Sioux Falls, prime sponsor of the bill.

“What we’re talking about here is the safety of our children,” he said.

Willadsen said such a law would prevent many injuries and deaths. Children are 59 percent less likely to be injured when booster seats are used, he said.

“Sometimes folks need a little education and perhaps a little encouragement,” added Rep. Maggie Gillespie, D-Hudson.

While adults can make intelligent choices about their safety, children are not prepared to do that, she said. “Children are at our mercy.”

However, opponents argued that the government should not tell parents to do something that is common sense.

“Let us allow them to make their own decisions in relationship to their children,” said Rep. Garry Moore, D-Yankton. “Why is it we think we know more than they do?”

There are many ways for children to get hurt, and the Legislature cannot pass laws to cover every potential danger, said Rep. Deb Peters, R-Hartford.

“At what point are we going to wrap our children in Bubble Wrap and send them to school just because some kid might trip them on the playground?” she said.

“We need to allow parents to be parents,” Peters said in opposition to the bill.

The veto was sustained on a vote of 22-46.

It requires at least 47 yes votes in the House and 24 in the state Senate to override a veto.