This bill at the General Assembly would make it illegal to leave an eight-year-old in the car while you pick up at prescription at Wal-Mart. Not specifically, mind you, but read the bill and apply it.
It passed the second reading 108-4.
It’s an improvement over the original. That would have made it a potential felony* to step out of your car to use the ATM, if you left a third-grader in the vehicle (second offense).
I picture my wife pumping gas on a rainy winter morning with a baby in one arm and three little children shivering around her knees. Thank goodness for committee work.
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* As I understand it, a class 1 misdemeanor can be upgraded to a felony at the judge’s discretion. Even at the misdemeanor level, the jail time is at least thirty days and potentially six months. Kind of steep for putting a letter in the mailbox.
