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HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Each day, more than 26 million students rely on |
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school buses for safe transportation, and many school districts |
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have experienced difficulty in keeping up with this demand due to |
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federal licensing requirements that have exacerbated the shortage |
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of school bus drivers; and |
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WHEREAS, Part 383 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires |
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school bus drivers to obtain a Commercial Driver's License, but the |
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application process has included unnecessary obstacles to meeting |
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this obligation; for example, the testing and training portions of |
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the CDL application were previously handled by different |
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third-party skills examiners, which limited applicants' ability to |
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complete the exams if they did not have access to both a tester and a |
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trainer; a recent change to this rule helps states streamline the |
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process of obtaining a CDL by allowing the same examiner to both |
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test and train an applicant, revealing that with less federal |
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interference, states can license school bus drivers more |
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efficiently; and |
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WHEREAS, According to a survey conducted by School Bus Fleet |
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Magazine, most school districts have endured some degree of bus |
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driver shortage, and data from the National Association for Pupil |
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Transportation reveals that many school districts consider CDL |
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requirements to be a major factor in their ability to recruit and |
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retain bus drivers; one Texas school district has successfully |
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overcome its shortage, but only through costly training programs |
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that compensate new drivers as they complete the CDL application; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, School districts that provide valuable |
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transportation services are burdened by a flawed federal system |
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with inefficient licensing requirements, and Congress should solve |
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this problem by allowing states to establish regulations according |
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to their own needs; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas, |
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3rd Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the |
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United States to pass legislation that would grant licensing |
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authority for public school bus drivers to the states; and, be it |
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further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |