1-1     By:  Bivins                                            S.B. No. 517

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 10, 1997; February 13, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Education;

 1-4     April 8, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 8, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 517                   By:  Bivins

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the transportation of public school students.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 34.003, Education Code, is amended by

1-13     amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e)

1-14     to read as follows:

1-15           (b)  To transport students in connection with school

1-16     activities other than on school bus routes to and from school:

1-17                 (1)  only school buses or motor[,] buses [chartered

1-18     from motor bus companies, or district-owned buses meeting the

1-19     safety standards prescribed for vehicles used by motor bus

1-20     companies] may be used to transport 15 [10] or more students in any

1-21     one vehicle; and

1-22                 (2)  passenger cars or passenger vans may be used to

1-23     transport fewer than 15 [10] students.

1-24           (c)  In all circumstances in which passenger cars or

1-25     passenger vans are used to transport students, the operator of the

1-26     vehicle shall ensure that the number of passengers in the vehicle

1-27     does not exceed the designed capacity of the vehicle and that each

1-28     passenger is secured by a safety belt.

1-29           (d)  In this section, "passenger van" means a motor vehicle,

1-30     other than a motorcycle or passenger car, used to transport persons

1-31     and designed to transport 15 or fewer passengers, including the

1-32     driver.

1-33           (e)  "Motor bus" means a vehicle designed to transport more

1-34     than 15 passengers, including the driver.

1-35           SECTION 2.  Section 34.004, Education Code, is amended to

1-36     read as follows:

1-37           Sec. 34.004.  STANDING CHILDREN.  A school district may not

1-38     require or allow a child to stand on a school bus or passenger van

1-39     that is in motion.

1-40           SECTION 3.  SECTION 34.003, Education Code, as amended by

1-41     this Act, applies beginning with the 1997-1998 school year.

1-42           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-43     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-44     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-45     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-46     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-47     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-48     passage, and it is so enacted.

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