Bill Text: HI SB172 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Bill 172 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating To School Buses.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-20 - Referred to EDU/TRE, WAM. [SB172 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SB172-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	172
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to school buses.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that federal and state laws require certain motor vehicle drivers and passengers to use seat belts because seat belts provide a measure of protection during accidents. Passenger cars, light trucks, and vans are required under federal law to have seat belts at all designated seating positions. However, neither federal nor Hawaii law requires seat belts on school buses that have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds, which is the standard weight of a large school bus.

Despite increased federal standards for school bus passenger safety and crash protection, there are still thousands of injuries to children throughout the country each year due to school bus accidents. Children suffer both minor and serious injuries to their head, neck, back, and stomach when striking the roof, windows, seat backs, and other school bus passengers during crashes.

On November 21, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a school bus carrying thirty-five children lost control and crashed into a tree. Five children were killed and more than twenty were hospitalized.

After the accident in Tennessee, CBS Evening News reported that "only California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas have seat belt laws for large buses. Ten states - Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and West Virginia - considered seat belt legislation in 2016 but none enacted it[.]" Recently, lawmakers in Indiana, where a bus carrying a high school basketball team was sideswiped and overturned in March, passed a resolution supporting a study of the issue.

Opponents of seat belts on large school buses argue that strong, well-padded, energy absorbing seats and higher seat backs compartmentalize passengers during a crash, thereby providing adequate safety in frontal crashes. However, a comprehensive, in-depth study in 1989 by the Transportation Research Board found that the inclusion of seat belts on compartmentalized school buses provides additional crash protection. Furthermore, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found that approximately one-third of the fatal crashes between 1977 and 1992 occurred from non-frontal and rollover crashes. Compartmentalization is not designed to provide protection from non-frontal and rollover crashes. Crash test and case study data indicate that seat belts provide improved crash protection and are especially beneficial in side-impact and rollover school bus accidents. As such, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator has called for a three-point seat belt on every bus. The Administrator has stated that "[s]chool buses should have seat belts. Period. It should be utterly uncontroversial - there is no question that seat belts offer improved safety."

The legislature finds that seat belts also reduce other types of injuries by restraining children who may otherwise be out of their seats. This also helps improve passenger behavior and reduce distractions to school bus drivers. In addition, seat belts provide other important benefits, such as educating children about seat belt use and reinforcing seat belt use in motor vehicles.

The legislature finds that states can require and equip school buses to meet a higher safety standard than established under federal law.

The purpose of this Act is to require all school buses purchased, leased, or contracted for use by the State as of July 1, 2019, to be equipped with seat belt assemblies at all designated seating positions.

SECTION 2. Chapter 286, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part IX to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§286‑ School bus safety. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary:

(1) All school buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds purchased, leased, or contracted for use by the State as of July 1, 2019, and thereafter, shall be equipped with a seat belt assembly at each designated seating position; and

(2) No certificate of inspection shall be issued under section 286‑26 for a school bus with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds unless the school bus is in compliance with this subsection.

(b) As used in this section:

"School bus" has the same meaning as in section 286‑231.

"Seat belt assembly" means a seat belt, including a lap and shoulder harness belt, that is in compliance with all applicable federal standards and installed by or pursuant to the specifications of the seat belt assembly manufacturer.

(c) The department of transportation shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section.

(d) The department of education shall adopt rules:

(1) Requiring the use of seat belt assemblies by pupils on school buses; and

(2) Providing appropriate discipline for any pupil who fails to comply with this section and any rule adopted regarding the use of a seat belt assembly on a school bus."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-407, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Any school bus contract between the State and the contractor shall include [a]:

(1) A provision requiring the contractor to equip the contractor's vehicles with the signs and visual signals described in section 291C-95(d) and (g)[~~. The contract shall also include~~];

(2) A provision requiring the contractor to equip, as of July 1, 2019, and thereafter, the contractor's vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds with a seat belt assembly, as defined in section 286- , at each designated seating position;

(3) A provision requiring periodic refurbishment of school buses over ten years old; and

(4) Any other provisions as may be deemed necessary by the State for the safety of school bus passengers and shall include provisions requiring compliance with the rules and standards described in section 286-181."

SECTION 4. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

School Buses; Seat Belts

Description:

Requires all school buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds purchased, leased, or contracted for use by the State as of July 1, 2019, and thereafter, to be equipped with a seat belt assembly at each designated seating position.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.