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.
1-49 * * * * *