Formed in 1950, the New York School Bus Contractor Association has a proud and accomplished tradition of serving as the voice of school bus contractors on issues of interest at the state capital and beyond. In carrying out its mission of “promoting safe, reliable and cost-effective student transportation” across New York, NYSBCA will advocate for the following school transportation priorities (and many more) and work with the Governor, the State Legislature, and the Board of Regents to ensure they are given every consideration for the 2024 Legislative Session:

ZERO-EMISSION SCHOOL BUS

• Discuss with key stakeholders potential concerns regarding to (1) power availability i.e. that the grid can handle the capacity and (2) manufacturing capacity as well.Discuss with key stakeholders potential concerns regarding to (1) power availability i.e. that the grid can handle the capacity and (2) manufacturing capacity as well.
  
  

• Pass (AB7122/ SB 6754A) either inside the budget or as stand alone bills but the overall goal is intended to address the need and ability for school districts and transportation companies to have contract flexibility due to all of the uncertainty associated with electric conversion. NYSBCA’s Board of Directors along with Gerstman PLLC continue to lobby key stakeholders in the Legislature and Governor’s office on behalf of our membership in support of our legislation that amends the education law in relation to contract cost adjustments in the middle of contract terms for school districts transportation contracts due to increased costs associated with the transition to zero-emission buses. NYSBCA’s sponsors are NYS Assemblymember Jean-Pierre as well as NYS Senator Kennedy to champion this initiative (AB 7122 / SB 6754A)
  
  

• Pass (AB 8010/ SB 5524) as a part of the budget. Despite, the significant advantages of electric buses, the upfront purchase price as well as associated infrastructure costs are the greatest obstacle to their adoption in addition to power availability and manufacturing capacity. New electric buses can cost 2x-3x (or even greater) compared to a traditional new diesel bus. Fleet operators often just can’t afford the upfront cost, even with grants and other subsidies. One creative way to help offset costs is by eliminating the sales tax associated with the purchase of new electric school buses and parts. We are working with Senator Skoufis and Assemblyman Benedetto (chair of the education committee) as the primary sponsors of this bill, which we will lobby to be included in the Budget one house bills. (AB 8010/ SB 6754A)

  
  

• As we know, coming out of the pandemic, the school bus industry struggled to fill driving positions. This is a state and national problem. Some of the reasons are the split shift nature of the job, along with drug testing and vast amounts of screening and mandated testing. As such, we remain steadfast in our efforts to educate our partners in government in regard to the severity of the driver shortage as well as some potential solutions to help alleviate the problem.
  
  

• The on-site “third party” testing has been a huge success in that we have saved time, and we have been able to increase the number of applicants that are interested in getting their CDL by making this test convenient and comfortable for trainees to take. The next logical step is the ability to administer the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) written test on contractors’ property. Most applicants have not taken a written test in many years and driving to a State office to take the test in an unfamiliar place creates anxiety and causes applicants to withdraw each week. Research supports the idea that allowing applicants to test in a familiar environment should enhance outcomes and result in an expanded pool of qualified drivers.
  
  

• Incentivize school districts to adopt multi-tier transportation systems via increased transportation aid from NYS to the school districts. This would save the state millions of dollars and also reduces the number of drivers needed (NY has 10% of buses nationwide) while also increasing pay for bus drivers at the same time.

• Continue to advocate for a school bus exemption.
  
  
• The Traffic Mobility Review Board made an informal recommendation that the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority consider an exemption for school buses when they are transporting students to and from school. Our understanding is found in the report on page 21: “These recommendations do not include a general exemption for school buses because they are often deployed for purposes beyond transporting students to school. This panel urges the TBTA to explore providing a specific school bus exemption in the future for the specific purpose of transporting students to and from school, while maintaining a congestion charge on such buses when otherwise deployed.” However, it appears that this is only an informal recommendation and are advocating for it to be included in the final adoption.

As always, we will continue to track and monitor legislation that can potentially hurt the industry and make sure that NYSBCA always has a seat at the table with key-decision makers on these initiatives and many more. Our goal is always to educate elected officials as to the practicality and reasonableness of any proposal and to continue to be the industry experts that the elected officials come to whenever they are confronted with anything pupil transportation related.

1. Instead of amending Commissioner Regulations for Pupil Transportation Contracts (8 NYCRR 156.1–156.5) in order to add an electric vehicle rate to existing contracts/ ability to adjust the base price for the vehicle—NYSBCA learned that we need to amend the NYS Education Law instead. As a result, we successfully drafted, introduced, and lobbied a bill in both houses: AB7122/ SB 6754A which amends the education law in relation to contract cost adjustments in the middle of contract terms for school districts transportation contracts due to increased costs associated with the transition to zero-emission buses. NYSBCA’s sponsors are NYS Assemblymember Jean-Pierre as well as NYS Senator Kennedy to champion this initiative (AB 7122 / SB 6754A). At the same time, NYSBCA successfully blocked an overly restrictive legislative proposal by SED in regard to contract modification. We continue to work together with SED, the Governor’s office, as well as the legislature to get this across the finish line.
   
   
2. NYS adoption of the under the hood waiver- School Bus Only Restriction
   
   
3. Successfully had the chair of the education committee introduce our sales tax exemption proposal for zero-emission school buses purchases and parts: AB 8010/ SB 5524)