AN ACT CONCERNING OPERATOR'S LICENSES BEARING A SCHOOL BUS ENDORSEMENT.

This bill imposes additional background check requirements on applicants for licenses and endorsements to drive school buses and school transportation vehicles (STVs), including a check of the state child abuse registry. It requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) commissioner to deny a license or suspend an endorsement for transporting students for anyone convicted of a serious criminal offense, if the person has not completed his or her sentence or completed it within the past five years.

The bill (1) requires, rather than allows, the DMV commissioner to periodically notify public transportation providers, including school districts, of anyone whose commercial driver's license or passenger endorsement the commissioner has suspended, withdrawn, or revoked and (2) requires each carrier to check these reports at least twice per month and, within 10 days after the review, remove from driving any of its school bus or STV drivers who are not properly licensed. By law, school districts that employ their own school bus and STV drivers are considered carriers.

The bill extends required random drug testing to those employed to drive STVs that carry 10 or fewer students and bars carriers from continuing to employ as a driver any school bus or STV driver who tests positive for drugs. The bar must run for two years after a first positive test and become permanent after a second such test.

The bill increases penalties on (1) carriers who fail to implement required drug testing for school bus and STV drivers and applicants and (2) school transportation contractors who allow anyone not properly licensed to drive a school bus carrying school children. It imposes fines on carriers who fail to carry out the required checks of drivers' licensure status or fail to remove an operator who is not properly licensed.

The bill also bars the DMV commissioner from issuing temporary licenses with school bus or STV endorsements, eliminates special license endorsements for camp vehicle drivers, and makes minor and technical changes.

Finally, the bill requires that a school bus company's name and phone number and the bus number be conspicuously painted in black lettering on the rear and sides of each school bus. It requires the DMV commissioner to determine the size of the lettering.

*House Amendment “A” (1) adds the provision concerning student transportation license denial or endorsement suspension for conviction of a serious criminal offense, (2) revises requirements for carriers' periodic checks on drivers' license status, (3) makes drug testing penalties consistent and imposes and increases those and other penalties, (4) bans an employee with a positive drug test only from driving and not all employment with a carrier, (5) limits the driving ban to two years after a first positive test and makes the ban permanent only after a second positive test, and (6) makes other minor and technical changes.

*House Amendment “B” adds the requirement to paint the school bus company's name and phone number and the school bus number on each school bus.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007, except for the bus painting requirement, which is effective October 1, 2007.

Before the DMV commissioner may issue a license with a school bus or STV endorsement, the bill requires him to check each applicant against the state child abuse registry maintained by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The registry lists individuals the DCF commissioner finds are responsible for child abuse or neglect. Under the bill, the DMV commissioner can refuse endorsements to applicants listed as perpetrators of abuse and immediately notify the applicant, in writing, of the refusal.

The bill also subjects applicants for STV endorsements to the same state and national criminal history records checks as already apply to applicants for school bus driver endorsements. As is the case for school bus endorsement applicants, the bill allows the DMV commissioner to refuse to issue an STV endorsement when he receives notice that the applicant has a state or national criminal history record.

By law, a “student transportation vehicle” is any vehicle, other than a registered school bus that a carrier uses to transport students under age 21, including special education students. A “carrier” is a school district, a school district's contractor, or any other person compensated for transporting students. Carriers also include corporations, institutions, and nonprofit organizations that provide transportation as an ancillary service primarily to people under age 18.

The bill requires the DMV commissioner to deny licensure or suspend an endorsement issued for transporting students to anyone convicted of a criminal offense the commissioner determines is serious, or an offense under any federal or other state's law the commissioner determines is substantially similar, if any part of the sentence for the conviction is either not completed or was completed in the past five years. It requires the commissioner to adopt regulations to implement this provision.

The bill requires, rather than allows, the commissioner to give boards of education and other public and private organizations actively engaged in providing public transportation a report containing the names and license numbers of anyone whose license or endorsement he or she has withdrawn, suspended, or revoked. The commissioner must periodically update the report, according to a schedule the commissioner establishes, and can transmit or make the report available electronically.

The bill requires each carrier to (1) review the commissioner's report at least twice a month to check whether any of its school bus and STV drivers' names and license numbers is listed and (2) bar from driving a school bus or STV any employee whose license or endorsement to operate such vehicles is listed as having been withdrawn, suspended, or revoked.

Current state law requires carriers to conduct pre-employment urinalysis drug tests of all school bus and STV drivers they intend to employ. Federal and state laws also require carriers to conduct random drug and alcohol testing of their employees who drive school buses designed to seat more than 10 passengers. This bill subjects all school bus and STV drivers to random drug testing, thus extending testing to those who drive STVs designed to carry 10 or fewer passengers. Under current law and this bill, drug testing must comply with existing state laws governing employment and pre-employment drug testing.

The bill bars a carrier from continuing to employ as a driver someone who tests positive for drugs. The ban applies for two years after the first positive test and becomes permanent after a second such test. Under current state and federal law, a driver with a positive drug test result must be removed from safety-sensitive duty, but there is currently no set period during which such a driver is barred from driving. By law, before such a driver can return to duty, he or she must be evaluated, comply with recommended rehabilitation, and have a negative result on a return-to-duty test (CGS § 14-261b and 49 USC § 31306).

The bill increases, from $ 1,000 to $ 2,500, the civil penalty against carriers who, for a second or subsequent time, (1) fail to conduct pre-employment and random post-employment drug testing of school bus and STV drivers they employ or intend to employ or (2) hire applicants or continue to employ as drivers employees who test positive for drugs. It does not change the penalty for a first offense, which remains $ 1,000. The bill makes penalties consistent by also increasing penalties in another statute (CGS § 14-261b(c)) that subjects to civil penalties a carrier who fails to comply with federal and state drug testing requirements for current employees. It increases penalties under that law from $ 300 to $ 1,000 for a first offense and from $ 1,000 to $ 2,500 for subsequent offenses.

Failure to Review License Status Reports and Remove Listed Drivers Within 10 Days

The bill imposes civil fines on carriers who fail to review the DMV commissioner's periodic reports of drivers whose licenses have been suspended, withdrawn, or revoked or who fail, within 10 days after the review, to bar those listed in the report from driving a school bus or STV. The fine for failure to review the report is $ 1,000 for a first, and $ 2,500 for subsequent, violation. The fine for failure to remove a driver listed in a report within 10 days is $ 2,500 for a first, and $ 5,000 for a subsequent, violation. The bill allows the DMV commissioner to reduce these penalties when a carrier presents appropriate justification.

The bill increases the penalty against a town's school transportation contractor who permits anyone without a passenger and school endorsement to drive a school bus that is carrying school children. The current fine is from $ 35 to $ 90. The bill increases it to between $ 2,500 and $ 5,000. It also eliminates the offense's designation as an infraction (see BACKGROUND).

Infractions are punishable by fines, usually set by Superior Court judges, of between $ 35 and $ 90, plus a $ 20 or $ 35 surcharge and an additional fee based on the amount of the fine. There may be other added charges depending upon the type of infraction. For example, certain motor vehicle infractions trigger a Transportation Fund surcharge of 50% of the fine. With the various additional charges, the total amount due can be over $ 300 but often is less than $ 100.

An infraction is not a crime; thus violators do not have criminal records and can pay the fine by mail without making a court appearance.

A camp vehicle is a motor vehicle regularly used to transport passengers under age 18 in connection with the activities of any youth camp requiring licensure by the Department of Public Health.

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(03/19/2007)

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(04/18/2007)

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(04/30/2007)

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(05/04/2007)