HEADLINES
Connecticut Law to Offset Cost of Optional School Bus Seat Belts
School transporters dodged a requirement for lap/
shoulder seat belts, the original intent of lawmakers follow- ing the Jan. 9 death of a 16-year-old boy after his activity bus collided with a car and overturned in a ravine. Instead, school districts receive what Gov. M. Jodi Rell calls “incen- tive and choice.” To be eligible under the new law, school bus contractors
would need to enter an agreement with school districts to supply at least one and no more than 50 of the school buses with lap/shoulder belts and to request from the state DMV 50 percent of the sales tax paid to purchase the new buses. “Tis is certainly a step in the right direction,” comment-
ed Sgt. Garfield Green of the School Bus Unit in the state DMV’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Division. “Te mandate to add seat belts to school buses [would have] created a financial burden for school transportation providers and made implementation difficult, especially in this tough economic climate.”
Following Gov. Rell signing House Bill 5033 on June
2, the DMV is responsible as of this month for increasing by $50 the fees paid for restoring suspended or revoked driver’s licenses, commercial driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations. Te estimated annual deposit of $2.1 million in the new School Bus Seat Belt Account would help school districts and school bus contractors offset the cost of pur- chasing the lap/shoulder belt-equipped school buses, that is, when they choose to purchase them. Te funds would also go toward paying the 50-percent sales tax rebate on new purchases. But, as the bill points out, it will cover less than half of the anticipated new purchase costs. School dis- tricts could receive a state grant that would increase the current 26 percent reimbursement amount on local eligible costs. Tese include a portion of the equipment, mainte- nance and passenger capacity costs. Te new seat belt account runs through 2017, when the legislature will again take up the issue. n
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