By Bivins                                        S.B. No. 517

      75R988 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, "passenger van" means a motor vehicle,

 2-2     other than a motorcycle or passenger car, used to transport persons

 2-3     and designed to accommodate 15 or fewer passengers.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  Section 34.003, Education Code, as amended by

 2-5     this Act, applies beginning with the 1997-1998 school year.

 2-6           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-11     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-12     passage, and it is so enacted.