BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1072|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1072
Author: Mendoza (D), et al.
Amended: 8/19/16
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 10-0, 4/5/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire,
Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/13/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/2/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 35-0, 5/9/16
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León,
Fuller, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg,
Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Pan,
Pavley, Roth, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Beall, Gaines, Nielsen, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-10, 8/23/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Schoolbus safety: child safety alert system
SOURCE: State Council on Developmental Disabilities
DIGEST: This bill requires, on or before the 2018-19 school
year, school buses, other specified buses which transport
students, and child care motor vehicles to be equipped with an
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operational child safety alert system. Requires local education
authorities, or the owner or operator of a private school that
provides transportation to or from school, to notify the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) within five days if a driver
has been found to have left a bus with an unattended pupil on
board and the driver's actions constituted gross negligence,
which will result in the revocation of that driver's
certification to drive students.
Assembly Amendments add child care motor vehicles, and exempt
school pupil activity busses under specified circumstances, from
its provisions. The amendments also limit the reporting of a
bus driver to the DMV to instances when that driver leaves a
pupil unattended, the driver has been disciplined and the
driver's actions are found to have been grossly negligent, as
defined.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires school officials to develop transportation safety
plans.
2)Requires enhanced certification to become a school bus driver.
3)Authorizes the DMV to refuse to issue or renew such
certification if certain specified crimes or misconduct has
occurred.
4)Requires specialized equipment in school buses such as seat
belts and external lighting systems.
This bill:
1)Requires public and private school officials, as defined, to
establish procedures to ensure that pupils are not left
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unattended on school buses.
2)Requires that school bus drivers be instructed on how to
ensure that pupils are not left unattended.
3)Requires public and private school officials, as defined, to
notify the DMV if a school bus driver leaves a pupil
unattended on a school bus, the driver has been disciplined,
and the driver has been found to be grossly negligent, as
defined.
4)Requires the DMV to refuse to issue or renew the school bus
driver certificate if the driver has left a pupil unattended
on a school bus.
5)Requires school buses, youth buses, and child care motor
vehicles to be equipped, by the 2018-19 school year, with
child safety alert systems which force drivers to manually
disarm or scan an alarm at the rear of the bus before exiting
the bus. School pupil activity busses are exempt from this
provision if they are not used exclusively to transport
pupils, at least one adult chaperone accompanies the trip, and
other defined safety measures are implemented.
6)Requires, by January 1, 2018, the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) to adopt regulations for child safety alarm systems.
Comments
1)Purpose. The author notes that in California there have been
several cases where children were left on school buses
unattended and found hours later. In a particularly tragic
case last year, a special-needs student in Los Angeles died
after being left alone on a bus for many hours. This bill
seeks to prevent children being left unattended on buses by
requiring drivers walk the length of the bus to deactivate an
alarm system before leaving. It also strengthens driver
protocols and training and provides the DMV the authority to
suspend the bus driver's certificate to drive the bus.
2)The problem. While it may be hard to imagine how a child
could be left alone on a school bus, the author has identified
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eight instances since 2012. Those students ranged in age from
2 to 19 years old; all were either special needs or autistic.
Neither the CHP nor the DMV keep records of these types of
accidents, so it is difficult to judge the pervasiveness of
the problem.
3)Alert system. The author believes that making the bus driver
walk through the bus will address the problem. The alert
system required by this bill has a device located at the rear
of the bus. At the end of the trip, the driver has to walk
through the bus to physically deactivate the device before
exiting the bus to prevent an alarm from sounding. These
devices are made by several manufacturers and have been
deployed by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
According to the author, the District spent $194,000 to equip
all 1,300 of their buses.
4)School bus driver certificates. In addition to a driver's
license, school bus drivers must also obtain a certificate to
operate the bus. This requires the driver to, among other
things, pass a medical exam, submit fingerprints, pass a
first-aid exam, meet with the CHP bus coordinator, and take an
on-road driving exam. 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. This bill authorizes the DMV to revoke the
certificate if the driver has left a student unattended on a
school bus.
5)Other buses. In addition to school buses, this bill also
deals with School Pupil Activity Buses (SPABs), youth busses,
and child care motor vehicles. SPABs are typically chartered
buses which take students to and from school activities, such
as sporting events. SPABs are required to have parents or
parent representatives (e.g., school officials) present at the
beginning and end of the trip and are exempt from the alarm
system requirement if there is at least one adult chaperone,
pupils are accounted for before and after the trip, and safety
plans and procedures are reviewed with the pupils. Youth
buses, which are busses designed to carry not more than 16
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students, and child care motor vehicles, which are vehicles
designed to carry more than eight people that is used by a
child care provider to transport children, are also included.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
1)Proposition 98/GF cost pressures, likely in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, for local education agencies to modify
transportation plans, report information to the DMV, maintain
specified documents for two years and install child alarm
systems. These costs are not likely reimbursable since state
law does not require school districts to provide
transportation on school buses.
2)Minor GF costs to the California Department of Education to
modify bus driver training programs to include instruction on
inspection procedures that ensure a student is not left
unattended.
3)Minor/absorbable costs for the CHP to adopt regulations
regarding child safety alarm systems, and to incorporate
requirements into school bus inspections.
4)Minor/absorbable costs for the 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.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/23/16)
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State Council on Developmental Disabilities (source)
American Academy of Pediatrics
Association of California School Administrators
Autism Speaks
California School Nurses Organization
Center for Autism and Related Disorders
East Bay Legislative Coalition
HEARTS Connection Family Resource Center
Los Angeles Unified School District
RHK Law Office
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
Whittier Union High School District
18 individuals
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/23/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-10, 8/23/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo
Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove,
Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth,
Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Rendon
NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Chang, Beth Gaines, Harper,
Jones, Mayes, Obernolte, Patterson, Wagner
Prepared by:Randy Chinn / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/23/16 20:02:53
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