By:  Bivins                                            S.B. No. 517

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the transportation of public school students.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Section 34.003, Education Code, is amended by

 1-4     amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e)

 1-5     to read as follows:

 1-6           (b)  To transport students in connection with school

 1-7     activities other than on school bus routes to and from school:

 1-8                 (1)  only school buses or motor[,] buses [chartered

 1-9     from motor bus companies, or district-owned buses meeting the

1-10     safety standards prescribed for vehicles used by motor bus

1-11     companies] may be used to transport 15 [10] or more students in any

1-12     one vehicle; and

1-13                 (2)  passenger cars or passenger vans may be used to

1-14     transport fewer than 15 [10] students.

1-15           (c)  In all circumstances in which passenger cars or

1-16     passenger vans are used to transport students, the operator of the

1-17     vehicle shall ensure that the number of passengers in the vehicle

1-18     does not exceed the designed capacity of the vehicle and that each

1-19     passenger is secured by a safety belt.

1-20           (d)  In this section, "passenger van" means a motor vehicle,

1-21     other than a motorcycle or passenger car, used to transport persons

1-22     and designed to transport 15 or fewer passengers, including the

1-23     driver.

 2-1           (e)  "Motor bus" means a vehicle designed to transport more

 2-2     than 15 passengers, including the driver.

 2-3           SECTION 2.  Section 34.004, Education Code, is amended to

 2-4     read as follows:

 2-5           Sec. 34.004.  STANDING CHILDREN.  A school district may not

 2-6     require or allow a child to stand on a school bus or passenger van

 2-7     that is in motion.

 2-8           SECTION 3.  SECTION 34.003, Education Code, as amended by

 2-9     this Act, applies beginning with the 1997-1998 school year.

2-10           SECTION 4.  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.