By Hawley H.B. No. 823
75R4463 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the transportation of public school students.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 34.003, Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 34.003. Operation of School Buses. (a) School buses
1-7 shall be used for the transportation of students to and from
1-8 schools on school bus routes having 15 [10] or more students. On
1-9 those school bus routes having fewer than 15 [10] students,
1-10 passenger cars or passenger vans may be used for the transportation
1-11 of students to and from school.
1-12 (b) To transport students in connection with school
1-13 activities other than on school bus routes to and from school:
1-14 (1) only school buses, buses chartered from motor bus
1-15 companies, or district-owned buses meeting the safety standards
1-16 prescribed for vehicles used by motor bus companies may be used to
1-17 transport 15 [10] or more students in any one vehicle; and
1-18 (2) passenger cars or passenger vans may be used to
1-19 transport fewer than 15 [10] students.
1-20 (c) In all circumstances in which passenger cars or
1-21 passenger vans are used to transport students, the operator of the
1-22 vehicle shall ensure that the number of passengers in the vehicle
1-23 does not exceed the designed capacity of the vehicle and that each
1-24 passenger is secured by a safety belt.
2-1 (d) In this section:
2-2 (1) "Passenger car" means a motor vehicle, other than
2-3 a motorcycle, used to transport persons and designed to accommodate
2-4 10 or fewer passengers.
2-5 (2) "Passenger van" means a motor vehicle used to
2-6 transport persons and designed to accommodate not fewer than 11 or
2-7 more than 15 passengers.
2-8 SECTION 2. Section 34.003, Education Code, as amended by
2-9 this Act, applies beginning with the 1997-1998 school year.
2-10 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-16 passage, and it is so enacted.