INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: BRIEFS SUPPORT OF THREE-POINT SEAT BELTS ON SCHOOL BUSES STIRS UP INDUSTRY N
ASDPTS followed up on an executive board vote in October to update its position on school bus lap-shoulder seat belts with a paper that outlines its new full support for the implementation of occupant restraint systems, as long as student ridership is not
impacted. NASDPTS changed its position in light of NTSB findings from
investigations into two separate but similar 2012 school bus crashes: one in Chesterfield, N.J., and the other in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Students died during side-impact crashes in part because required two-point lap seat belts in both buses were not worn properly. Te position stands in opposition to the views held by NAPT and NSTA. Tey released a joint statement saying their members question whether updating the federally mandated school-bus engineering design called compartmentalization might prove to be a more viable or better solution than three-point belts in side-impact and rollover crashes. Te groups also said they “cannot in good faith” advise their members on proper installation because of “significant and confliction policy differences” at the federal level. NASDPTS wrote that a “thorough consideration of available re-
sources” should be made by states and local school districts before they decide on using the three-point systems. Tis includes policy-training programs for proper usage, as well as adjustment and evacuation, and “unbuckle drills.” NASDPTS President Max Christensen said school buses are already the safest vehicles on the road, but “a bus can be made just a little bit safer with their installation and use.” “NASDPTS believes this decision should be based on state or
local need, but also believes lap/shoulder belt-equipped seats should be encouraged as an option when considering new bus original equipment specifications,” the paper stated. When NHTSA solicited public comments in response to its Nov.
21, 2007, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on lap/shoulder belts in school buses, NASDPTS recommended that the feds reconsider the position that there was no need to prohibit two-point lap belts. It also called for lap/shoulder belts as “the only seat-belt system acceptable in school buses.” In 2002, NASDPTS published its last position paper on the subject. But NASDPTS' latest paper outlines 10 points on why it now
supports lap/shoulder belts, including a 2006 study by the American School Bus Council stating that parental support for school buses
may in fact increase bus ridership. Te association noted that the new flexible seating technology and improved seatback thickness now of- fered by manufacturers have essentially negated any loss in ridership. It also cited NHTSA's approval of technical standards for equipping buses with the seat belts and how students are to use them.
More analysis on this topic will be provided in next month's issue.
MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES RECEIVE ANOTHER EXTENSION TO MEET ACA EMPLOYER MANDATE
exempting midsize businesses until 2016 and giving big businesses more time to prepare for full coverage. In an e-mail to its members, the National
T
School Transportation Association reported that the Treasury Department said employ- ers with fewer than 100 workers will not have to provide health care to their workers in 2015. NSTA added that companies with 100 workers or more are receiving a differ-
24 School Transportation News April 2014
he Obama administration announced in February it would delay part of the employer mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act for a second year,
ent kind of one-year grace period. Instead of being required in 2015 to offer coverage to 95 percent of their full-time workers, the larger employers can avoid a fine by offering insurance to 70 percent of them next year. In related news, the House Ways and Means Committee marked up HR 2575 introduced last summer by Rep. Todd Young (R-IN). Te bill seeks to repeal the 30-hour definition of full-time employment from ACA. NSTA reported that the Saving America's Workers Act has the same effect as a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL). Te bill, HR 2988, or
the “Forty Hours Is Full Time” Act, is a companion measure to a bipartisan bill in the Senate by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN). NSTA said all the bills define a full-time employee as working 40 hours per week. NSTA noted that three additional Dem-
ocrats added their support this week to HR 2575, bringing along three other Democrats to support this bill. Tey are Reps. Jim Matheson (D-UT), Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Collin Peterson (D-MN).
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