ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 414

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 5, 1997

      The Assembly Education Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 414 with committee amendments.

      Under current law, a pupil may be excluded from a school bus for disciplinary reasons by the principal, and his parents must provide for his transportation to and from school during the period of such exclusion. As amended by committee, this bill provides that a student may also be excluded from the bus for refusal to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt or other child restrain system while riding a school bus. Under the bill, a student who refuses to be secured in his seat may be reported by the bus operator to the bus operator's supervisor or the school principal. The bill also provides that in addition to excluding the pupil from the bus, the principal may impose any other disciplinary sanction he deems appropriate.

      Legislation which became effective in September of 1994, P.L.1992, c.92, requires every passenger on a school bus which is equipped with seat belts or other restraint system to be secured with the belt or restraint whenever the bus is being operated.

      The committee amended the bill to delete language which made failure to wear a seat belt grounds for suspension. Instead the amendment provides that in the event of a student's failure to wear a seat belt, in addition to excluding that student from the bus, the principal may impose any other disciplinary sanction he deems appropriate. The committee also made a technical chage to the bill to include reference to other child restraint systems on school buses which are equipped with such systems.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As amended, the bill includes the changes required by technical review which has been performed.