New Jersey-2014-S1049-Introduced

An Act concerning school bus safety inspections and amending P.L.1999, c.5.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 4 of P.L.1999, c.5 (C.39:3B-21) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. The chief administrator shall establish a school bus enhanced safety inspection program which shall include, but not be limited to, the following elements:

(1) an in-terminal school bus inspection program which provides for the semi-annual or annual inspection of school buses by commission inspectors;

(2) standards and requirements pertaining to the equipment, maintenance, and repair of school buses subject to inspection pursuant to this act; all in-terminal inspections, including those involving diesel vehicles, shall include an emission inspection to determine whether that vehicle meets the State's emission specifications and standards;

(3) standards and requirements pertaining to the establishment and maintenance of school bus maintenance, repair, and inspection records for all school buses in the operator's fleet; [and]

(4) standards and requirements pertaining to the establishment and maintenance of driver employment records, including records which demonstrate a driver's compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements for authorization to operate a school bus, and any other records and credentials deemed necessary by the [director] chief administrator for school bus drivers employed by the operator. The records shall be made available to commission inspectors during each in-terminal inspection;

(5) standards for assessing each operator's pass rate; the commission shall establish a minimum initial pass rate to be achieved by all operators. The initial pass rate shall be determined as the percentage of school buses operated out of a specific terminal that pass inspection the first time around in any given year. Only out-of-service (OOS) violations shall be counted as failures. Any 30-day violations shall count as a defect and shall not affect the initial pass rate unless the defect is not corrected within the specified 30-day period. Each terminal shall have its initial pass rate posted on the commission's website;

(6) a minimum inspection pass rate to be attained by all operators and a remedial program including but not limited to increased frequency of inspections of operator's fleets if they fail to attain the minimum pass rate.

b. If an operator does not have adequate terminal facilities to allow for a proper and thorough in-terminal inspection, the chief administrator shall designate an in-lieu-of terminal site and direct the operator to present his buses and records to that site for inspection on such terms and conditions as determined by the chief administrator.

c. The [time and] location of any inspection or reinspection conducted pursuant to this section shall be [determined by the chief administrator] the operator's terminal. The chief administrator shall schedule school bus inspections for a seven hour work day between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. on each day of the week excluding Saturdays and Sundays. The operator shall set the schedule for inspections at the operator's convenience. The commission shall stagger school bus inspections at a given terminal over a monthly or weekly basis, based on the size of the operator's fleet.

Unless an owner agrees to a different time schedule, the chief administrator shall schedule a reinspection within [three days] 24 hours of the date of the failed inspection [that necessitated the reinspection]. Re-inspections shall take place at the operator's terminal unless agreed upon by the operator to be re-inspected at another location. School buses may be driven to a re-inspection location or the operator's terminal provided repairs have been made to correct the out-of-service violation and no passengers are present on the bus.

d. The Motor Vehicle Commission shall inspect no more than 20 buses in each operator's fleet within a 24-hour period, except in cases where the commission conducts a surprise inspection of an operator's buses.

e. The chief administrator shall provide each school bus dealer or school van dealer or dealer representative with a highly qualified team of inspectors to inspect buses or vans that have not been previously operated as school buses in New Jersey to conduct a specifications inspection. Inspectors shall be available to inspect new vehicles on Monday thru Saturday. Any specifications defects that are present at the time of inspection but are not discovered by the inspectors, shall not count towards an operator's failure rate, if the specification defect is discovered upon a subsequent inspection. The operator shall have six months to repair said defect once the defect has been discovered.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.331, s.3)

2. Section 6 of P.L.1999, c.5 (C.39:3B-23) is amended to read as follows:

6. a. Any school bus that fails an inspection based on out-of-service criteria as established by the [director] chief administrator shall be immediately removed from service.

b. The operator of a bus shall have a right to an administrative hearing pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to challenge an inspector's finding that a school bus has failed an inspection.

(cf: P.L.1999, c.5, s.6)

3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month after the date of enactment, but the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

This bill would amend the "School Bus Enhanced Safety Inspection Act," P.L.1999, c.5 (C.39:3B-18 et seq.). The bill authorizes the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission to establish standards for assessing each operator's pass rate and post the operators' pass rates on the commission's website. The commission would also be required to establish a minimum inspection pass rate to be attained by all school bus operators and a remedial program for those school bus operators who fail to attain the minimum pass rate.

The bill further provides for a seven hour inspection schedule between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. on week days, at the operator's convenience, and further provides that such inspections shall be staggered based on the size of the operator's fleet. A highly qualified team of inspectors would inspect buses that have not been previously operated as school buses in New Jersey. Any defects that are present at the time of an inspection but are not discovered by the highly qualified inspectors, would not count towards an operator's failure rate, when the defect is later discovered. The bill also permits an operator to drive a school bus that has failed reinspection from one station to another, provided repairs have been made to correct the out-of-service violation and no passengers are present on the bus.

Finally, this bill would allow school bus operators to have a reinspection carried out within 24 hours after a bus fails an inspection and allow an operator to appeal an inspector's finding that a school bus failed an inspection.