Bill Text: NY S05327 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to contracts for the transportation of school children.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-05-19 - RECOMMIT, ENACTING CLAUSE STRICKEN [S05327 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S05327-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 5327 2015-2016 Regular Sessions I N S E N A T E May 13, 2015 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the transportation of school children THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Statement of legislative findings and necessity. The legis- 2 lature hereby finds that for three decades beginning in 1979, following 3 a strike by school bus workers, the school bus contracts of the board of 4 education of the city of New York included employee protection 5 provisions requiring transportation contractors, among other things, to 6 give priority in hiring to employees who became unemployed because of 7 their employers' loss of bus contract work for such board and to pay 8 such employees the same wages and benefits they had received prior to 9 becoming unemployed. 10 Following the 2011 decision by the New York State Court of Appeals in 11 L&M BUS CORP., ET AL., V. THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, ET 12 AL., the board of education of the city of New York did not include the 13 employee protection provisions that had been part of the board's school 14 bus contracts for over 30 years or any similar provisions in its solic- 15 itations for its school bus contracts. After the issuance of the first 16 such Post-L&M solicitation; there was a school bus strike in January and 17 February of 2013. During this strike, many children were either unable 18 to attend school or were burdened, along with their families, with find- 19 ing alternative modes of transportation in the heart of winter. 20 The legislature further finds that the board of education of the city 21 of New York contracts with 62 companies to provide vital school bus 22 transportation to 149,000 school-age children. Pursuant to the education 23 law, the state reimburses the board of education of the city of New York 24 for a substantial percentage of its school bus contract expenditures. EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10792-01-5 S. 5327 2 1 Accordingly, the legislature finds that the education law should be 2 amended to require the board of education of the city of New York to 3 include important employee protections in its procurements for school 4 bus transportation contracts and to authorize the board of education to 5 amend existing contracts to include these protections. Including these 6 protections in such board's contracts will aid in avoiding service 7 disruptions and pension withdrawal liability claims, while protecting 8 the experienced school bus contract workforce from significant wage and 9 benefit reductions and facilitating the retention of an experienced 10 workforce. Inclusion of such protections will secure more cost-effec- 11 tive, higher quality and efficient procurement and performance of school 12 bus transportation services. 13 S 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education 14 law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read 15 as follows: 16 a. (1) All contracts for the transportation of school children, all 17 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district 18 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts 19 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain 20 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service 21 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, 22 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best 23 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided 24 in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an 25 annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase 26 contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall 27 be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall 28 be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, 29 with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids 30 if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted 31 thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall 32 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 33 and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transportation, main- 34 tenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service 35 shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement 36 for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by 37 the board of education or trustee of the district having general circu- 38 lation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall 39 contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received 40 pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either 41 by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. 42 All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and 43 place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first 44 publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the 45 opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding 46 shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of 47 pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is 48 based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 49 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement 50 for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or trienni- 51 al extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive 52 bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a 53 contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses 54 or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding 55 or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 56 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such exten- S. 5327 3 1 sions [(1)] (I) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a 2 district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, 3 and, [(2)] (II) do not extend the original contract period beyond five 4 years from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced there- 5 under and in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for 6 the maintenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that 7 such contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in 8 the commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to 9 approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, [(i)] (A) 10 to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if 11 he finds that amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any 12 year of such proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the 13 regional consumer price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. 14 area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the 15 preceding twelve month period; and [(ii)] (B) to reject any extension of 16 a contract after ten years from the date transportation or maintenance 17 service commenced thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first 18 provided, if in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be 19 promoted thereby. Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the 20 commissioner may order the board of education or trustee of the district 21 to seek, obtain and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this 22 section. The board of education or the trustee of a school district 23 electing to extend a contract as provided herein, may, in its 24 discretion, increase the amount to be paid in each year of the contract 25 extension by an amount not to exceed the regional consumer price index 26 increase for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the 27 index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month 28 period, provided it has been satisfactorily established by the contrac- 29 tor that there has been at least an equivalent increase in the amount of 30 his cost of operation, during the period of the contract. 31 (2) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE BOARD 32 OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE 33 MILLION INHABITANTS SHALL INCLUDE IN CONTRACTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF 34 SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, WHETHER AWARDED 35 THROUGH COMPETITIVE BIDDING OR THROUGH EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS IN 36 RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH E OF THIS 37 SUBDIVISION, PROVISIONS FOR THE RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING OF 38 SCHOOL BUS WORKERS AND FOR THE PRESERVATION OF WAGES, HEALTH, WELFARE 39 AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND SENIORITY FOR SCHOOL BUS WORKERS WHO ARE 40 HIRED PURSUANT TO SUCH PROVISIONS FOR RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING, 41 IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH, 42 "SCHOOL BUS WORKER" SHALL MEAN AN OPERATOR, MECHANIC, DISPATCHER OR 43 ATTENDANT WHO: (I) WAS EMPLOYED AS OF JUNE THIRTIETH, TWO THOUSAND TEN 44 OR AT ANY TIME THEREAFTER BY (A) A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS A PARTY TO A 45 CONTRACT WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A 46 CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF 47 SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION WITH 48 SUCH CONTRACT, OR (B) A SUBCONTRACTOR OF A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS A PARTY 49 TO A CONTRACT WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED 50 IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION 51 OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION 52 WITH SUCH CONTRACT, AND (II) HAS BEEN FURLOUGHED OR BECOME UNEMPLOYED AS 53 A RESULT OF A LOSS OF SUCH CONTRACT, OR A PART OF SUCH CONTRACT, BY SUCH 54 CONTRACTOR OR SUCH SUBCONTRACTOR, OR AS A RESULT OF A REDUCTION IN 55 SERVICE DIRECTED BY SUCH BOARD OF EDUCATION DURING THE TERM OF SUCH 56 CONTRACT. S. 5327 4 1 S 3. Subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education law is amended by 2 adding a new paragraph g to read as follows: 3 G. NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF PARAGRAPHS A THROUGH F OF THIS 4 SUBDIVISION AND ANY REGULATION PROMULGATED PURSUANT THERETO, THE BOARD 5 OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE 6 MILLION INHABITANTS AND A CONTRACTOR PROVIDING TRANSPORTATION SERVICES 7 TO SUCH DISTRICT FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 8 TWELVE MAY AMEND A CONTRACT FOR SUCH TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, FOR SUCH 9 CONSIDERATION AS APPROVED BY SUCH BOARD OF EDUCATION, TO INCLUDE IN SUCH 10 CONTRACT PROVISIONS FOR THE RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING OF SCHOOL 11 BUS WORKERS AND FOR THE PRESERVATION OF WAGES, HEALTH, WELFARE AND 12 RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND SENIORITY FOR SCHOOL BUS WORKERS WHO ARE HIRED 13 PURSUANT TO SUCH PROVISIONS FOR RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING, IN 14 CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS PARAGRAPH, "SCHOOL 15 BUS WORKER" SHALL MEAN AN OPERATOR, MECHANIC, DISPATCHER OR ATTENDANT 16 WHO: (1) WAS EMPLOYED AS OF JUNE THIRTIETH, TWO THOUSAND TEN OR AT ANY 17 TIME THEREAFTER BY (I) A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS A PARTY TO A CONTRACT WITH 18 THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH AT 19 LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 20 IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACT, 21 OR (II) A SUBCONTRACTOR OF A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS A PARTY TO A CONTRACT 22 WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH 23 AT LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF SCHOOL CHIL- 24 DREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH 25 CONTRACT, AND (2) HAS BEEN FURLOUGHED OR BECOME UNEMPLOYED AS A RESULT 26 OF A LOSS OF SUCH CONTRACT, OR A PART OF SUCH CONTRACT, BY SUCH CONTRAC- 27 TOR OR SUCH SUBCONTRACTOR, OR AS THE RESULT OF A REDUCTION IN SERVICE 28 DIRECTED BY SUCH BOARD OF EDUCATION DURING THE TERM OF SUCH CONTRACT. 29 S 4. Separability. If any item, clause, subparagraph, paragraph, 30 subdivision or section of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 31 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 32 impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its 33 operation to this item, clause, subparagraph, paragraph, subdivision or 34 section thereof that was adjudged to be invalid. 35 S 5. This act shall take effect immediately.