Bill Text: NJ S57 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires school buses that transport students with special needs to be equipped with certain safety features.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-06-09 - Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee [S57 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2022-S57-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 57

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

220th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  KRISTIN M. CORRADO

District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)

Senator  JON M. BRAMNICK

District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires school buses that transport students with special needs to be equipped with certain safety features.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Senate Transportation Committee on June 9, 2022, with amendments.

  

An Act requiring certain school buses to be equipped with certain equipment¹[, designated as Emma's Law,]¹ and supplementing Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  Every school bus, as defined in R.S.39:1-1, that transports one or more students with special needs shall be equipped with:

     (1)  a video camera on the interior of the school bus to monitor student safety while the students are being transported;

     (2)  a global positioning system that provides information about the location and speed of each school bus in real time; and

     (3)  two-way communications equipment, which may include, but not be limited to, a cellular or other wireless telephone.

     b.    Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a school bus driver shall comply with the provisions of section 1 of P.L.2002, c.120 (C.39:3B-25) while operating a school bus.

     c.     Any video footage collected from a video camera and any global positioning system data collected from the global positioning system pursuant to this section shall not be considered a government record pursuant to P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), P.L.2001, c.404 (C.47:1A-5 et al.), or the common law concerning access to government records.

 

     2.  The State Board of Education, in consultation with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, shall promulgate, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations concerning: the installation and use of video cameras, global positioning systems, and two-way communications equipment as required pursuant to section 1 of  P.L.    ,   c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) on school buses that transport students with special needs; the use of data collected from the global positioning systems; and the retention of video footage from the video cameras, including, but not limited to, a minimum and maximum amount of time that footage may be retained.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment, but the Commissioner of Education and the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission may take such administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.