BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1072 (Mendoza) - Schoolbus safety: child safety alarm system
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|Version: April 7, 2016 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 10 - 0, |
| | ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 2, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 1072 would require schoolbuses, school pupil
activity buses (SPABs), and youth buses to be equipped with a
child safety alarm system by the beginning of the 2018-19 school
year, as specified. The bill would also enhance procedures and
training regarding pupil transportation to ensure a child is not
left unattended on a schoolbus.
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown, likely significant local costs to implement the
requirements of this bill. These costs are not state
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reimbursable. See staff comments.
Minor costs to the California Department of Education (CDE) to
modify bus driver training programs to include instruction on
inspection procedures that ensure a student is not left
unattended. (General Fund)
Minor and absorbable costs for the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) to adopt regulations regarding child safety alarm
systems, and to incorporate requirements into school bus
inspections. (Motor Vehicle Account)
Minor and absorbable costs for the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) to account for an additional circumstance that
would result in the refusal to issue or renew a bus driver
certificate, or the revocation or suspension of that
certificate. (Motor Vehicle Account)
Background: 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 CHP for a certificate issued by
DMV to drive a school bus (35 hours for a SPAB), and requires 10
hours of training annually to be eligible to renew a
certificate. Certificates may be valid for up to five years.
Existing law requires the training within the last 12 months of
the validity of the certificate to include specific topics,
including current laws and regulations, defensive driving,
accident prevention, emergency procedures, and passenger loading
and unloading.
The certificate is revocable if the bus driver misbehaves. The
DMV must revoke the certificate if the driver has been convicted
of a sex offense, as specified, or a violent felony. In
addition, the DMV may revoke the certificate if the driver has
been convicted of other less serious crimes.
Existing law also requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to develop or approve courses for training SPAB,
transit bus, school bus, and farm labor vehicle drivers that
will provide them with the skills and knowledge necessary to
prepare them for certification by the DMV. (Education Code §
40070) The curriculum for this training currently includes
procedures for loading and unloading students and includes some
SB 1072 (Mendoza) Page 2 of
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information specific to ensuring that a student is not left
behind on a bus.
Existing law 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
several specified topics.
Proposed Law:
SB 1072 would require schoolbuses, school pupil activity buses
(SPABs), and youth buses to be equipped with a specified child
safety alarm system by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year.
CHP must adopt regulations governing the specifications,
installation, and use of the alarm systems by January 1, 2018.
This bill expands the required contents of a transportation
safety plan to include procedures to ensure that a student is
not left unattended on a school bus, school student activity
bus, or youth bus. This bill also requires a school district to
include this requirement in a contract for the transportation of
students.
This bill 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 notify the DMV within five calendar
days of discovery that a driver of a school bus, school student
activity bus, or youth bus has left the immediate vicinity of
the vehicle to which the driver has been assigned with an
unsupervised student onboard. DMV would be authorized to refuse
to issue or renew, or to suspend or revoke, a bus driver
certificate upon the report of an incident.
This bill expands the training required during the last 12
months for which the special driver certificate is valid, in
which the 10 hours required must include instruction on the
inspection procedures included in the transportation plan.
Related
Legislation: SB 247 (Lara) places new safety requirements on
charter buses (none specific to child safety alarms). SB 247 is
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pending in the Assembly Transportation Committee.
Staff
Comments: Staff notes that the additional requirements related
to expanding the required transportation plan, reporting to the
DMV, providing related training, and installation of the child
alarm systems are unlikely to result in a determination of the
Commission on State Mandates (Commission) that these activities
impose a reimbursable state mandate. Test claims submitted for
related school bus safety requirements in statute, including the
development of a transportation plan and requiring seatbelts in
buses, have been determined by the Commission to not constitute
a reimbursable state mandate because those activities are
triggered by a decision to provide transportation services to
students. Education Code Section 39800 authorizes, but does not
require this activity for school districts.
This bill also allows the DMV to refuse to issue or revoke a bus
driver certificate for a vehicle used for the transportation of
developmentally disabled persons if the DMV receives a report
that a student was left unattended on a bus. Federal law, under
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), requires
local educational agencies to provide special education and
related services specified in a student's individualized
education program, which may include transportation, at no cost
to parents to meet the unique needs of a child with a
disability. According to the Commission, "although school
districts may provide school bus or school pupil activity bus
transportation, along with a variety of other possible options,
to fulfill the possible transportation requirements under the
IDEA, neither state law nor the IDEA require school districts to
provide school bus or school pupil activity bus transportation."
Therefore the provisions in this bill affecting
developmentally disabled students are unlikely to result in a
reimbursable state mandate.
This bill would impose new requirements upon school districts
and county offices of education that opt to provide a
transportation program to students. According to a Legislative
Analyst's Office report, most school districts in the state
operate school bus programs to transport a portion of their
students to and from school. According to the author's office,
the Los Angeles Unified School District installed child safety
alarms, consistent with this bill, at a cost of $194,000 for its
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1,300 buses. Other costs would include staff time to update
transportation plans and report incidences to the DMV. School
districts are likely to use local discretionary funds or if they
received Home-to-School Transportation funding in 2012-13, they
have this amount available to them through an add-on of the
Local Control Funding Formula. Statewide, the Home-to-School
Transportation funding is about $461 million.
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