Legislation that would create a state school bus safety watchdog and allow school officials to bar problematic private school bus companies from bidding on contacts took first steps Monday, being released from a state Assembly committee.
The proposed laws mirror two similar bills that progressed out of a state Senate Committee last week.
“This is timely legislation,” said Assemblyman Dan Benson, D-Middlesex, Assembly transportation committee chairman. “It’s good to see this move.”
The 12-member committee voted unanimously to release the two bills Monday.
A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Lisa Swain, and Assemblyman P. Christopher Tully, both D-Bergen, would create the post of school bus safety ombudsman, that will function separately from the state education department.
That person would review information, ranging from bus driver qualifications and training, to compiling a public database of violations and subsequent fines of school bus drivers and the school bus contractors that employ them. The database would also list the owners, operators, or any officers associated with the school bus contractors and companies barred from bidding. That person would also hear bus company appeals.
The bill also incorporates a suggestion made during last week’s Senate hearing to require the ombudsman have experience working in the school bus industry. This bill will be referred to another committee for review, officials said.
The second bill, also sponsored by Swain and Tully, has the same provisions as a companion senate bill under which a school bus company can be barred from bidding on a contract even if it has the lowest bid.
Actions that could get a company banned include failing to comply with laws regulating the qualification of school bus drivers and school bus inspections, committing a criminal offense to get or keep a contract, committing child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child and failing to live up to the provisions of a contract.
This bill was released for a full vote of the Assembly, at the discretion of the speaker.
Both were introduced June 1 and were supported by the New Jersey School Boards and the New Jersey Education Associations.
The Senate school bus bills were introduced by State Senator Joseph Lagana, D-Bergen, in response to the tragic May 17, 2018 crash of a Paramus school bus on I-80 in Mount Olive that claimed the life of a student and a teacher and injured 43 people on board. Swain and Tully also represent Paramus.
The bills also address issues highlighted in a 2019 NJ Advance Media article about a bus company with the highest crash record in the state, and issues with bus inspections, and traffic and safety violations, including the arrest of a driver charged with drunken driving a bus with children on board. A recent series of NorthJersey.com articles also focused on similar school bus safety problems and issues.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
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