Members of the House Transportation Committee voted Tuesday to pass a school bus safety measure sponsored by Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington, regarding school bus stop arm safety cameras.
House Bill 7 would allow enforcement of a civil penalty for vehicles that are recorded passing a school bus with a deployed stop arm. Violations could be enforced by a law enforcement agency, a certified peace officer, or school resource officer.
Civil penalties would be $300 for the first offense and $500 for each subsequent offense issued to the owner of the vehicle within a three-year period. No points would be assessed against the driving record of the owner or operator of the vehicle in violation.
“When drivers fail to stop when a school bus deploys its stop arm, they create a serious safety risk to children boarding or exiting the bus, as well as others on the road,” said Hale. “Too often, we hear stories of near misses or of children being struck by a driver who fails to stop when a school bus stop arm is deployed. House Bill 7 aims to expand the use of cameras on school buses to ensure drivers who disregard the law are held accountable.”
Under HB 7, a school district would be allowed to contract with a private vendor or manufacturer to install, operate, and maintain camera monitoring systems on school buses operated by the school district.
School buses with these systems would be required to display a warning sign notifying the public of camera use.
All revenue generated from a civil penalty for a stop arm violation would be collected and retained by the school district operating the monitoring system, unless the penalty is collected as a result of action taken in the courts, in which case court costs may be deducted from the amount paid to the school districts. Additionally, a law enforcement agency would be allowed to charge and collect a fee of $25 from every civil penalty for a stop arm camera violation collected by the school district that was enforced by a law enforcement agency.
“Equipping school buses with cameras can be a financial challenge for school districts,” Hale added. “Allowing school districts to retain collected civil penalties would help fund efforts to install cameras on school buses and maintain existing equipment.”
The measure now heads to the House floor.
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