Section 27316.5.

(a) Unless specifically prohibited by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, all type 2 school pupil activity buses, manufactured on or after July 1, 2004, purchased or leased for use in California shall be equipped at all designated seating positions with a combination pelvic and upper torso passenger restraint system.

(b) For purposes of this section, a "passenger restraint system" is either of the following:

(1) A restraint system that is in compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 209, for a type 2 seatbelt assembly, and with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 210, as those standards were in effect on the date that the school pupil activity bus was manufactured.

(2) A restraint system certified by the school pupil activity bus manufacturer that is in compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 222 and incorporates a type 2 lap-shoulder restraint system.

(c) No person, school district, or organization, with respect to a type 2 school pupil activity bus equipped with passenger restraint systems pursuant to this section, may be charged for a violation of this code or any regulation adopted thereunder requiring a passenger to use a passenger restraint system, if a passenger on the school pupil activity bus fails to use or improperly uses the passenger restraint system.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 360, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)