SB2361

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2361
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to seat belts in school buses.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that millions of children in the United States begin and end each day with a trip on a school bus, and thousands of injuries to children occur each year involving school buses, sometimes ending with tragic fatalities. For example, in a recent incident in Hawaii, a school bus and large dump truck collided in Kaimuki, causing injury to twelve children.

The legislature further finds that the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act includes bus safety requirements and sets standards that require school buses to be structurally and mechanically safe and provide pedestrian and occupant safety, and there is an increasing debate on the necessity of seat belts in school buses. While the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the possible benefits of seat belts on school buses were insufficient for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate the installation of seat belts on school buses, the same agency recommends that smaller children should "buckle up" and be secured in child passenger restraints on school buses.

The purpose of this Act is to provide the maximum possible safety for children in school buses by:

(1) Removing school buses as an exemption to the mandatory use of seat belts statute;

(2) Adding retrofitting of seat belts to other provisions as may be deemed necessary by the State for the safety of school bus passengers; and

(3) Appropriating funds to the department of education for the costs of retrofitting school buses with seat belts.

SECTION 2. Section 291-11.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The passengers of the following motor vehicles shall be exempt from the requirements of this section: emergency and mass transit vehicles. Further exemptions from this section may be established by rules adopted by the department of transportation pursuant to chapter 91.

As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Emergency vehicle" means an ambulance, a firefighting or rescue vehicle, or a police vehicle while on duty.

"Mass transit vehicle" means a bus[~~, including a school bus~~] (but excluding a school bus or a charter or sightseeing service bus) with a gross vehicle weight rating that is over 10,000 pounds, whether publicly or privately owned, which provides service to the general public or provides special service on a regular or continuing basis."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-407, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:

"(e) The contract between the State and the contractor shall include a provision requiring the contractor to equip the contractor's vehicles with the signs and visual signals described in section 291C-95(d) and (g). The contract shall also include other provisions as may be deemed necessary by the State for the safety of school bus passengers, including the retrofitting of seat belts, and shall include provisions requiring periodic refurbishment of school buses over ten years old."

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the costs of retrofitting school buses with seat belts.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon approval; provided that section 4 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________