BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1072
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|Author: |Mendoza |
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|Version: |April 7, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: April 13, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: Schoolbus safety: child safety alarm system
SUMMARY
This bill requires each schoolbus, school pupil activity bus and
youth bus to be equipped with an operational child safety alarm
system by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, requires
school transportation safety plans to include procedures to
ensure that a student is not left unattended on a schoolbus,
requires schools to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles upon
discovery that a driver left the immediate vicinity of the
vehicle with an unsupervised student aboard, and expands
required training for drivers to include inspection procedures
to ensure a student is not left unattended.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Requires, prior to being eligible for a schoolbus driver's
certificate from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), an
original applicant for a certificate to have successfully
completed a minimum 40-hour course of instruction, and an
original applicant for a certificate to drive a school
pupil activity bus (SPAB) to have successfully completed a
minimum 35-hour course of instruction, as specified. (EC §
40082 and § 40083)
2) Requires, upon completion of the course of instruction, the
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applicant to successfully complete a written exam and a
behind-the-wheel test in order to receive an endorsement
from the California Highway Patrol for eligibility for
certification by the DMV. (Vehicle Code)
3) Requires a schoolbus driver to possess a valid driver's
license for the appropriate class of vehicle endorsed for
schoolbus and passenger transportation, and a schoolbus
driver's certificate issued by the DMV. Existing law
requires a SPAB driver to possess a valid driver's license
for the appropriate class of vehicle endorsed for passenger
transportation, and a SPAB driver's certificate issued by
the DMV. (Vehicle Code § 12517)
4) Requires applicants seeking to renew a certificate to drive
a schoolbus or a SPAB to have successfully completed at
least 10 hours of classroom instruction, or
behind-the-wheel or in-service training during each 12
months of certificate validity (certificates may be valid
for up to five years). Existing law requires the
10 hours of instruction, during the last 12 months of the
special driver certificate validity, to consist of
classroom instruction covering the following:
a) Current laws and regulations.
b) Defensive driving.
c) Accident prevention.
d) Emergency procedures.
e) Passenger loading and unloading. (EC § 40085)
5) Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to refuse
to issue or revoke a schoolbus or SPAB driver certificate
under specified scenarios, and authorizes the DMV to refuse
to issue or renew, or suspend or revoke a schoolbus or
school pupil activity bus (SPAB) driver certificate if the
applicant or certificate holder has been convicted of
certain crimes, committed an act involving moral turpitude,
or has been dismissed as a driver for a cause relating to
student safety.
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6) Defines a "school pupil activity bus" as any motor vehicle,
other than a schoolbus, operated by a common carrier, or by
and under the exclusive jurisdiction of a publicly owned or
operated transit system, or by a passenger charter-party
carrier, used under a contractual agreement between a
school and carrier to transport students to or from a
school activity, or used to transport students to or from
residential schools, when the students are received and
discharged at locations where a parent or adult designated
by the parent is present to accept the student or place the
student on the bus. (EC § 39830.1)
7) Defines a "youth bus" as any bus, other than a schoolbus,
designed for carrying up to 16 people and the driver, used
to transport children directly from a school to an
organized non-school-related youth activity within 25 miles
of the school or directly from a location which provides
the organized non-school-related youth activity to a school
within 25 miles of that location. (Vehicle Code § 680)
8) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop or approve courses for training SPAB, transit bus,
schoolbus, and farm labor vehicle drivers that will provide
them with the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare
them for certification by the DMV. (EC § 40070)
9) Requires the county superintendent of schools, the
superintendent of a school district, or the owner or
operator of a private school that provides transportation
to or from a school or school activity to prepare a
transportation safety plan containing procedures for school
personnel to follow to ensure the safe transport of
students. The plan must address all of the following:
a) Determining if students require escort.
b) Procedures for all students in pre-kindergarten
through grade 8 to follow as they board and exit the
appropriate schoolbus at each student's bus stop.
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c) Boarding and exiting a schoolbus at a school or
other trip destination.
(EC § 39831.3)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires each schoolbus, school pupil activity bus and
youth bus to be equipped with an operational child safety alarm
system by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, requires
school transportation safety plans to include procedures to
ensure that a student is not left unattended on a schoolbus,
requires schools to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) upon discovery that a driver left the immediate vicinity
of the vehicle with an unsupervised student aboard, and expands
required training for drivers to include inspection procedures
to ensure a student is not left unattended. Specifically, this
bill:
1) Requires, by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, each
schoolbus, school student activity bus (SPAB), and youth
bus to be equipped with an operational child safety alarm
system.
2) Requires the county superintendent of schools, the
superintendent of a school district, or the owner or
operator of a private school to notify the DMV within five
days of discovery that a driver of a schoolbus, SPAB, or
youth bus has left the immediate vicinity of the vehicle
with an unsupervised student onboard. This bill provides
that escorting preschool-grade 8 students off of the bus,
as is required in certain circumstances, is not considered
leaving the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.
3) Authorizes the DMV to refuse to issue or renew, or to
suspend or revoke a schoolbus, SPAB, or youth bus driver
certificate if the applicant or certificate holder has been
reported to the DMV for leaving a student unattended on a
schoolbus, SPAB, or youth bus.
4) Requires the governing board of a school district to
require that any contract for the transportation of
students to include the requirement that a student not be
left unattended on a schoolbus, school student activity
bus, or youth bus.
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5) Expands training for drivers during the last 12 months of
the validity of the driver's certificate to include
inspection procedures to ensure that a student is not left
unattended.
6) Requires a school transportation safety plan to include
procedures to ensure that a student is not left unattended
on a schoolbus, SPAB, or youth bus.
7) Requires the California Highway Patrol, by January 1, 2018,
to adopt regulations governing the specifications,
installation, and use of child safety alarm systems.
8) Defines "child safety alarm system" as a device located at
the interior rear of a vehicle that requires the driver to
manually contact the device before exiting the vehicle,
thereby prompting the driver to inspect the entirety of the
interior of the vehicle before exiting.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "Although
school buses provide one of the safest modes of
transportation, there are still school bus-related
injuries, and unfortunately some fatalities every year.
Children left unattended on a bus may be subject to
extremely cold or hot temperatures causing injury, trauma,
or death. Unfortunately, across the nation there are
regular news reports describing incidents of children being
stranded inside a bus for hours until someone realizes they
are missing. These reports include cases involving
special-needs students, who are often the most vulnerable
and sometimes non-verbal. During the last several years in
California, there have been several cases where children
where left on school buses unattended and found hours
later. This bill seeks to prevent children being left on
buses unattended by adding safe pupil transportation
measures to ensure drivers check the bus at the end of
their routes to make certain all children are off the
vehicle."
2) Child safety alarm systems. This bill defines "child
safety alarm system" as a device located at the interior
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rear of a vehicle that requires the driver to manually
contact the device before exiting the vehicle, thereby
prompting the driver to inspect the entirety of the
interior of the vehicle before exiting. There are several
manufacturers of such devices, and a few different ways in
which they function. Many systems work by sounding an
alarm, or reminder tone, when the ignition key is turned
off; the bus driver must press a button located in the back
of the bus to turn the alarm off; if this button is not
pushed within a certain amount of time, the alarms sounds
louder and the bus horn is engaged.
It may be possible for a student to be left behind on a bus even
with a child safety alarm in place. Some child safety
alarms systems consist of a button located at the rear of
the bus which must be pressed to disengage the alarm; it is
possible that a student could press the button, whether on
their own or upon request of a driver, or a driver could
walk to the back of the bus to press the button without
carefully checking for students that may be left behind.
This bill expands training to include procedures to ensure
that a student is not left unattended. Will child safety
alarms, combined with additional training for drivers,
ensure that students are not left behind on buses?
3) Los Angeles Unified School District. According to the Los
Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the district
installed the Child Check-Mate System on their school buses
in 2001. The LAUSD states that its schoolbus drivers
receive orientation on the procedures to check buses for
remaining students and on the proper use of the Child-Check
Mate System. The LAUSD believes that the
system is a tool to safeguard the transport of students, is
effective when combined with the coordination of
conscientious driver safety checks.
4) Due process? This bill requires the county superintendent
of schools, the superintendent of a school district, or the
owner or operator of a private school to notify the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) within five days of
discovery that a driver of a schoolbus, school pupil
activity bus (SPAB), or youth bus has left the immediate
vicinity of the vehicle with an unsupervised student
onboard. This bill also authorizes the DMV to take action
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against a driver who was reported as leaving a student
unattended. This bill does not provide for a process by
which a driver may explain any mitigating circumstances, or
appeal a determination by the school district or county
office of education, or decision made by the DMV. Should
this bill be amended to provide such processes?
5) School pupil activity bus (SPAB). Existing law defines a
SPAB as a vehicle operated by a common carrier, by a public
transit system, or by a passenger charter-party carrier,
used under a contractual agreement between a school and
carrier to transport students to or from a school activity
when the students are received and discharged at locations
where a parent or adult designated by the parent is present
to accept the student or place the student on the bus.
SPABs are not schoolbuses. SPAB vehicles are not
necessarily used only to transport students (transports not
affiliated with the school are done on a separate trip).
Existing law requires SPABs to load and unload students
where the parent or other designated adult is present.
Training materials provided by the California Department of
Education (CDE) include provisions for SPAB drivers to
conduct head counts and to check for sleeping students.
The training materials also state that students who are
transported in a schoolbus of SPAB are to be under the
authority of, and responsible directly to, the driver of
the bus, and the driver shall be held responsible for the
orderly conduct of the students while they are on the bus
or being escorted across a street, highway or road. Is it
reasonable to require a SPAB driver to be responsible to
operate the child safety alarm if a parent or other adult
who is affiliated with the school is present?
6) Driver training. Existing law requires 40 hours of initial
training before a person may be eligible to take the
written and behind-the-wheel exams for recommendation by
the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for a certificate
issued by DMV to drive a schoolbus (35 hours for a SPAB),
and requires 10 hours of training annually to be eligible
to renew a certificate. Existing law requires the training
within the last 12 months of the validity of the
certificate to include specific topics. This bill expands
the topics of training within the last 12 months to include
the procedures to ensure that a student is not left
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unattended on a bus.
The CDE provides training for schoolbus, SPAB, transit bus and
farm labor vehicle drivers, as well as for instructors of
this training. The curriculum for this training currently
includes procedures for loading and unloading students and
includes some information specific to ensuring that a
student is not left behind on a bus.
7) Heard in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
This bill was heard in the Senate Transportation and
Housing Committee on April 5, where it passed with a vote
of 10-0. That Committee's analysis suggested two technical
amendments; those amendments have already been incorporated
into this bill.
8) Fiscal impact. This bill would impose unknown costs to
install child safety alarms.
9) Related legislation. SB 247 (Lara) places new safety
requirements on charter buses (none specific to child
safety alarms). SB 247 is pending in the Assembly.
SUPPORT
Autism Speaks
Center for Autism and Related Disorders
Los Angeles Unified School District
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
OPPOSITION
California Bus Association
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