Jackie Walorski Enhancing Necessary Data on Illegal School Bus Passing Act
This bill addresses various issues related to illegal passing of stopped school buses.
For example, the bill requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to
The bill also requires the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the National Conference of State Legislatures, to develop model legislation to address incidents of illegal passing of stopped school buses.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3998 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3998
To establish a program to monitor and gather data on incidents of
illegal passing of stopped school buses, develop a national public
safety messaging campaign, training materials, and model legislation to
reduce such incidents, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2023
Mr. Yakym (for himself and Ms. Brownley) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a program to monitor and gather data on incidents of
illegal passing of stopped school buses, develop a national public
safety messaging campaign, training materials, and model legislation to
reduce such incidents, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Jackie Walorski Enhancing Necessary
Data on Illegal School Bus Passing Act''.
SEC. 2. PROGRAM ON ILLEGAL PASSING INCIDENTS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration shall establish a program to provide
grants to eligible entities to carry out a demonstration project to
monitor and collect data on incidents of illegal passing of stopped
school buses.
(b) Applications.--Upon the establishment of the program under
subsection (a), the Administrator shall solicit applications, in such
form and requiring such information as the Administrator determines is
appropriate, from eligible entities to participate in the program.
(c) Selection.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the deadline
for submitting applications under subsection (b), as determined
by the Administrator, the Administrator shall provide grants to
not more than 12 eligible entities to carry out a demonstration
project under the program established under this section.
(2) Criteria.--In selecting eligible entities to receive a
grant under this section, the Administrator shall--
(A) select entities located in--
(i) urban, rural, and suburban communities;
and
(ii) geographic areas that account for
varying weather patterns;
(B) ensure that a range of socioeconomic and
demographic backgrounds are represented across the
selected entities;
(C) select at least 1 entity that has publicly
operated school bus fleets;
(D) select at least 1 entity that has privately
operated school bus fleets;
(E) select entities that have the ability to work
cooperatively with local law enforcement to carry out a
project described in subsection (d);
(F) select at least 1 entity that is a tribal
educational agency; and
(G) select--
(i) at least 1 entity that has in place a
local campaign to combat incidents of illegal
passing of stopped school buses;
(ii) at least 1 entity that has in place
countermeasures to stop such incidents; and
(iii) at least 1 entity that does not have
in place such a campaign or such
countermeasures.
(d) Demonstration Projects.--A recipient of a grant under this
section shall use such grant to carry out a project to monitor and
collect data on incidents of illegal passing of stopped school buses,
including a description of--
(1) the number of incidents that occur each day;
(2) traffic patterns or characteristics of locations in
which such incidents occur, including--
(A) road conditions;
(B) time and location of such incidents;
(C) lighting and weather conditions at the time
such incidents occurred; and
(D) the side of the school bus on which such
incidents occurred;
(3) the drivers involved in such incidents, including--
(A) the age and sex of the driver;
(B) a description of whether any law enforcement
action was taken against the driver and, if so, a
summary of such action;
(C) whether a driver has a record of traffic
citations; and
(D) whether distracted driving was involved in such
incidents; and
(4) any other information the Administrator determines is
able to be collected in order to prepare the public safety
messaging campaign required under section 3.
(e) Report to Administrator.--Upon completion of a demonstration
project carried out with a grant provided under this section, a grant
recipient shall submit to the Administrator a report containing the
data collected during such project.
(f) Report to Congress.--Not later than 1 year after the
Administrator provides grants to eligible entities under subsection
(c)(1), the Administrator shall prepare a report describing the
findings of the demonstration projects carried out with such grants and
submit such report to Congress.
(g) Definition of Eligible Entity.--In this section, the term
``eligible entity'' means a local educational agency (as defined in
section 8101 of the Elementary And Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7801) or a tribal educational agency (as defined in section
6132(b) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 7452(b))).
SEC. 3. NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY MESSAGING CAMPAIGN.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the
Administrator submits the report required under section 2(f), the
Administrator shall produce and distribute a national public safety
messaging campaign to increase awareness and education about the
dangers of illegal passing of stopped school buses.
(b) Requirements.--In producing and distributing the national
public safety messaging campaign under subsection (a), the
Administrator shall--
(1) incorporate the findings contained in the report
submitted under subsection (2)(f) in the campaign, including
distributing the campaign to targeted sectors of the public
based on such report;
(2) ensure that the campaign includes radio, television,
and social media advertising and is not limited to only digital
downloads or regional distribution; and
(3) with respect to television advertising, seek
advertising time on key national broadcasts with a wide
audience.
(c) Training.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the
Administrator submits the report required under section 2(f), the
Administrator shall modify educational materials created for traffic
safety resource prosecutors and State agencies responsible for
administering driver's license laws to include more data on the dangers
of illegal passing of stopped school buses and emphasize the importance
of strong enforcement of laws prohibiting the passing of stopped school
buses.
(d) Pupil Transportation Safety.--The Administrator shall include
in the next scheduled edition of the biennial highway safety
countermeasure guide published by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration that is provided to State highway safety offices
information about pupil transportation safety and effective
countermeasures to address illegal passing of stopped school buses.
SEC. 4. MODEL LEGISLATION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the Secretary of
Transportation completes the review of illegal passing laws conducted
pursuant to section 24110(a) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act (23 U.S.C. 402 note), the Secretary shall, in consultation with the
National Conference of State Legislatures, develop model legislation to
address incidents of illegal passing of stopped school buses.
(b) Requirement.--The model legislation developed under subsection
(a) shall require that a citation for the illegal passing of a stopped
school bus be classified as a moving violation.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
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