BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 724
80R1355 JTS-D By: Lucio
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
On March 29, 2006, a chartered school bus transporting 23 soccer players from West Brook High School in Beaumont overturned, killing two girls and causing numerous injuries to others on the bus. The bus was not equipped with seatbelts. With nothing restraining a student in the student’s seat, tragedies such as this can occur more often than necessary, as the student can be thrown around inside and even ejected from a bus. Current law does not require seatbelts to be installed on school buses, however.
As proposed, S.B. 724 requires all new buses purchased by a school district on or after September 1, 2008, to be equipped with seatbelts, and all buses used for school activities to be equipped with seatbelts by September 1, 2017.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends the heading to Section 547.701, Transportation Code, to read as follows:
Sec. 547.701. ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL BUSES AND OTHER BUSES USED TO TRANSPORT SCHOOL CHILDREN.
SECTION 2. Amends Section 547.701, Transportation Code, by adding Subsection (e), to define “bus” and to require buses operated by or contracted for use by a school district for the transportation of schoolchildren to be equipped with seatbelts for each passenger. Provides that this subsection applies to each bus purchased by a school district on or after September 1, 2008, and each bus operated by or contracted for use by a school district on or after September 1, 2017, for the transportation of schoolchildren.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2007.