PALM BEACH POST

January 27, 2006

Migrant van seat belt bill advances

By Alan Gomez

Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — As the 2005 legislative session was nearing an end, farmworker advocates cornered Rep. Ralph Poppell on his way to his office to confront him about his opposition to a bill that would force seat belts in vans that transport farmworkers.

Poppell, R-Vero Beach and co-chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, argued to the crowd that the bill did not sufficiently protect van owners from lawsuits if passengers failed to use the seat belts.

That emotional scene will not be repeated this year, as Poppell has agreed to a rewritten version of the bill and even helped pass it through his committee Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Senate version of the bill passed its third and final committee, meaning the bill not only has its best chance of passing the legislature but also could end up being one of the first bills to reach the floors of both chambers when the session starts March 7.

"I've been doing this for 27 years, and we've never had a farmworker bill ready to go to the floor before session starts," social services advocate Karen Woodall said.

Poppell said: "I was always in favor of the seat belt bill. What I was not in favor of was punishing one group of people while letting another group of people go free."

He was referring to a part of the bill that heightens the burden that passengers who don't wear seat belts must meet before they can sue the driver or owner of the van.

During last year's debate, advocates feared that the changes Poppell proposed would go too far, possibly shielding drivers, owners and van manufacturers from any lawsuits. But the two sides were able to reach a compromise this year.

The issue of farmworker transportation got the attention of the legislature two years ago when a van transporting 19 workers crashed outside of Fort Pierce, killing nine of them and seriously injuring the other 10.

That van did not have seat belts on every seat, and that contributed to the death toll of the crash, which sent many of the Mexican farmworkers flying out of the van.

The bill, sponsored by two citrus growers, Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, and Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, will require all farmworker transportation vans to have working seat belts at every seat.

All vans will require a sticker that proves it has been inspected by the state and a sign in a language understandable to all passengers instructing them to use their seat belts.

The bill provides a $100 fine for failing to display the certification sticker from the state and a $200 fine for not having working seat belts in every seat.

Margarita Romo, a Dade City woman who has helped migrants there for more than three decades, was relieved by this week's success and thanked both committees for what she felt was a surprisingly simple process.

"This is a great moment for us," she said.