SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 2032

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 12, 1997

      The Senate Education Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 2032.

      This bill amends the statute that requires the installation of crossing control arms on school buses, approved on August 6, 1996, to clarify that the law applies to buses transporting nonpublic as well as public school pupils. The bill also specifies that the requirement applies to any agency operating school buses and to those school buses which were originally designed to carry 10 or more passengers. Under the bill, school bus operators would have 60 days after the bill is signed into law to provide the Commissioner of Education with a list of vehicles and an indication as to whether each vehicle is currently equipped with a crossing control arm. A section of the statute requiring the State Board of Education to adopt rules and regulations has been determined to be unnecessary and is repealed.