By West                                          S.B. No. 778

      75R5286 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to safety standards for school buses.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 34.002(a) and (b), Education Code, are

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (a)  The agency [General Services Commission], with the

 1-7     advice of the Department of Public Safety, shall establish safety

 1-8     standards for school buses [motor vehicles] used to transport

 1-9     students in accordance with Sections 547.701 and 547.7015,

1-10     Transportation Code [Section 105, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on

1-11     Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)].

1-12           (b)  Each school district shall comply with the safety

1-13     standards for school buses [motor vehicles] established by the

1-14     agency [General Services Commission] under Subsection (a).

1-15           SECTION 2.  Subchapter L, Chapter 547, Transportation Code,

1-16     is amended by adding Section 547.7015 to read as follows:

1-17           Sec. 547.7015.  RULES RELATING TO SCHOOL BUSES.  (a)  The

1-18     Texas Education Agency, with the advice of the department, shall

1-19     adopt and enforce rules governing the design, color, lighting and

1-20     other equipment, construction, and operation of a school bus for

1-21     the transportation of schoolchildren that is:

1-22                 (1)  owned and operated by a school district in this

1-23     state; or

1-24                 (2)  privately owned and operated under a contract with

 2-1     a school district in this state.

 2-2           (b)  In adopting rules under this section, the Texas

 2-3     Education Agency shall emphasize:

 2-4                 (1)  safety features; and

 2-5                 (2)  long-range, maintenance-free factors.

 2-6           (c)  Rules adopted under this section:

 2-7                 (1)  apply to each school district, the officers and

 2-8     employees of a district, and each person employed under contract by

 2-9     a school district; and

2-10                 (2)  shall by reference be made a part of any contract

2-11     that is entered into by a school district in this state for the

2-12     transportation of schoolchildren on a privately owned school bus.

2-13           SECTION 3.  (a)  In addition to the substantive changes in

2-14     law made by this Act, Section 2 of this Act, in adding Section

2-15     547.7015, Transportation Code, conforms to changes in the law made

2-16     by Section 56, Chapter 260, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular

2-17     Session, 1995.

2-18           (b)  Section 56, Chapter 260, Acts of the 74th Legislature,

2-19     Regular Session, 1995, is repealed.

2-20           (c)  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over

2-21     another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, relating to

2-22     nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes.

2-23           SECTION 4.  All rules adopted by the General Services

2-24     Commission establishing safety standards for school buses are

2-25     continued in effect as rules of the Texas Education Agency until

2-26     superseded by a rule of the Texas Education Agency.

2-27           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-5     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-6     passage, and it is so enacted.