Bill Text: IA SF2218 | 2011-2012 | 84th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to school bus safety, including providing penalties for failure to obey school bus warning lamps and stop signal arms, providing for a school bus safety study and administrative remedies, and making an appropriation. (Formerly SF 2021.) Effective 3-16-12.

Sponsorship: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2012-03-16 - Signed by Governor. S.J. 605. [SF2218 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2011-SF2218-Enrolled.html

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Senate File 2218
AN ACT
RELATING TO SCHOOL BUS SAFETY, INCLUDING PROVIDING PENALTIES
FOR FAILURE TO OBEY SCHOOL BUS WARNING LAMPS AND STOP
SIGNAL ARMS, PROVIDING FOR A SCHOOL BUS SAFETY STUDY AND
ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. Section 321.372, Code 2011, is amended by adding
the following new unnumbered paragraph before subsection 1:
NEW UNNUMBERED PARAGRAPH . This section shall be known and
may be cited as the “Keep Aware Driving —— Youth Need School
Safety Act” .
Sec. 2. Section 321.372, Code 2011, is amended by adding the
following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION . 5. a. The driver of a school bus who
commits a violation of subsection 1 or 2 is guilty of a simple
misdemeanor punishable as a scheduled violation under section
805.8A, subsection 10.
b. A person convicted of a violation of subsection 3 is
subject to the following:
(1) For a first offense under subsection 3, the person
is guilty of a simple misdemeanor punishable by a fine of at
least two hundred fifty dollars but not more than six hundred
seventy-five dollars or by imprisonment for not more than
thirty days, or by both.
(2) For a second or subsequent offense under subsection 3,
the person is guilty of a serious misdemeanor.
Sec. 3. Section 321.482A, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code
2011, is amended to read as follows:
Notwithstanding section 321.482 , a person who is convicted
of operating a motor vehicle in violation of section 321.178,

Senate File 2218, p. 2
subsection 2 , paragraph “a” , subparagraph (2), section
321.180B, subsection 6 , section 321.194, subsection 1 ,
paragraph “c” , section 321.256 , section 321.257 , section
321.275, subsection 4 , section 321.276, 321.297 , 321.298 ,
321.299 , 321.302 , 321.303 , 321.304 , 321.305 , 321.306 , 321.307 ,
321.308 , section 321.309, subsection 2 , or section 321.311 ,
321.319 , 321.320 , 321.321 , 321.322 , 321.323 , 321.323A , 321.324 ,
321.324A , 321.327 , 321.329 , or 321.333 , or 321.372, subsection
3, causing serious injury to or the death of another person
may be subject to the following penalties in addition to the
penalty provided for a scheduled violation in section 805.8A or
any other penalty provided by law:
Sec. 4. Section 805.8A, subsection 10, paragraph b, Code
Supplement 2011, is amended by striking the paragraph.
Sec. 5. SCHOOL BUS SAFETY STUDY —— RULEMAKING —— REQUESTS
FOR REEXAMINATION OF A DRIVER —— EDUCATION PROGRAMS ——
APPROPRIATION.
1. The department of transportation, the department of
public safety, and the department of education shall jointly
conduct a study relating to school bus safety, or may contract
with an outside vendor to conduct such a study under the joint
direction of the departments. The study shall focus on the use
of cameras mounted on school buses to enhance the safety of
children riding the buses and to aid in enforcement of motor
vehicle laws pertaining to school bus safety. The study shall
also consider the feasibility of requiring school children
to be picked up and dropped off on the side of the road on
which their home is located, the inclusion of school bus safety
as a priority in driver training curriculum, and any other
issues deemed appropriate by the departments. The findings and
recommendations shall be reported to the general assembly by
December 31, 2012.
2. By July 1, 2012, the department of transportation
shall initiate rulemaking to establish a violation of section
321.372, subsection 3, as a serious violation. The rules may
provide for an increasing tier of driver’s license suspensions
for conviction of a first, second, or subsequent violation.
The specific direction provided under this subsection does not,
by implication or otherwise, invalidate any prior rulemaking
by the department designating certain violations as serious
violations and does not preclude future rulemaking by the
department to designate certain violations other than

Senate File 2218, p. 3
violations of section 321.372, subsection 3, as serious
violations.
3. By December 31, 2012, the department of transportation
shall make available to local law enforcement agencies,
electronically through the Iowa traffic and criminal software,
the form for requesting departmental reexamination of a person
who may be physically or mentally incapable of operating a
motor vehicle safely.
4. The department of transportation, the department of
public safety, and the department of education shall cooperate
to establish educational programs to foster increased public
awareness of motor vehicle laws and safe driving behaviors
relating to school bus safety.
5. There is appropriated from the statutory allocations
fund to the department of transportation an amount sufficient
to fund the study required under this section and an amount
sufficient to fund the development and programming necessary to
make the request for departmental reexamination form available
through the Iowa traffic and criminal software.
Sec. 6. EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT. The section of this Act
providing for a school bus safety study, the adoption of rules,
law enforcement requests for reexamination of a driver, and
educational programs and making an appropriation, being deemed
of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
______________________________
JOHN P. KIBBIE
President of the Senate
______________________________
KRAIG PAULSEN
Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 2218, Eighty-fourth General Assembly.
______________________________
MICHAEL E. MARSHALL
Secretary of the Senate
Approved _______________, 2012
______________________________
TERRY E. BRANSTAD
Governor