On Monday, May 16, Governor Gregoire signed PSE’s bill to improve student transportation safety. SSB 5540 takes effect July 22, 2011, and will allow school districts to place video cameras on the outside of the bus. The camera will be able to document those vehicles that go around the school bus while the school bus is stopped, the stop paddle is out, and the students are either loading onto or unloading from the school bus.
Brennor Beck, bus driver from Peninsula school district and inspiration for the bill, Deann VanWinkle, Arlington school district bus driver and Zone 11 director, and Deborah Nutt, Mead paraeducator and PSE Vice President, were special guests of PSE during the signing of the bill.
Not that it is that significant but I thought you might be interested in seeing what it looks like when the Governor signs a bill.
Yesterday, PSE’s bill to give bus drivers another tool to enforce the laws while loading and unloading students, passed the House 93-3 (the no’s were Condotta, Shea, Overstreet).
We have one final hurdle before it goes to the Governor. That hurdle is “concurrence” from the Senate that they agree with the House amendments (they will agree).
It’s not too early to acknowledge those who played critical roles in this bill’s passage.
Special recognition should be given to our member Brennor Beck, the Peninsula school district bus driver who sparked this legislation and provided excellent testimony during hearings.
Senator Hobbs was our prime sponsor and made this bill possible. He surprised us by helping out at various stages of moving this bill and was the lead public relations guy for the bill (he was interviewed numerous times, for instance he was on the Ken Schram radio show 3 times (I think that is on KIRO radio), Q13 TV, the Everett Herald.)
And finally, Ehren Flygare did a great job keeping the bill moving through the Rules and Floor.
I am proud to have participated in this good team effort.
Yes that’s true. The one and only, Tim Eyman, Washington State’s anti everything guru, doesn’t like PSE’s school bus camera bill. However, what’s important is that the House Transportation Committee does and voted it out unanimously last Thursday.
Here is the Everett Herald article on the school bus camera bill that quotes Eyman but also has good quotes from PSE’s new communications staff member, Heather Maier. This issue was also covered on Q 13 TV last night; Senator Steve Hobbs was interviewed and said it was a vanilla interview (no heat but good pro and con piece). I don’t have the link to the interview because I couldn’t find it on the Q 13 website.
And if you want to see how the Transportation committee really feels about the bill, take a look at the testimony in the “read below”. Just like the Senate Transportation committee, the House Transportation Committee agree and are angry that citizens still violate this law. It’s good to know that bus drivers and students have such strong support.
Here is the set up to the vote (don’t forget to look at the second link because that is where they actually vote):
Yesterday, the House Transportation Committee, heard PSE’s bill to provide student’s more safety while getting to school and returning home, and, at the same time, take the burden off bus driver’s to enforce traffic safety laws.
The committee was actively engaged in the discussion of the bill, and, the testimony was received very well.
Brennor Beck, Peninsula school district bus driver, again provided excellent testimony. He followed that up today, Thursday, at 10:30 am by appearing on the Dave Ross show on KIRO radio. A big thanks to Brennor for his time, effort, and great representation of bus drivers!
Testimony can be found here:
and here:
Posted by: Doug Nelson on 3/17/2011 at 11:58:00 PM
SSB 5540, PSE’s bill to promote school bus safety, will be heard by the House transportation committee this Wednesday, March 16. Preliminary indications are that this issue will receive a good reception however we are not taking anything for granted. Brennor Beck, our star performer in the Senate Transportation committee, is scheduled to return again and lead our testimony.
Posted by: Doug Nelson on 3/15/2011 at 12:08:00 AM
PSE’s bill, SSB 5540, to allow school districts to place cameras on the outside of the bus in order to catch stop paddle violators, passed the Senate on Friday on a vote of 49-0. Senator Steve Hobbs, prime sponsor of the bill, has worked hard to get the bill lined up for yesterday’s vote. Next stop, House Transportation committee.
Two days after the Senate Transportation committee heard for the first time, SB 5540, they approved it without any opposition. Actually, they were supportive enough that they decided that violators should get the same penalty that they would if a police office caught them doing it ($394).
If you have a chance, you should watch their deliberations. It was inspiring that they really got our message that bus drivers needed help, and as a result, students would be safer.
Brennor Beck, Peninsula School District bus driver, got the Transportation Committee’s attention with a photo of a school bus that had been hit by a speeding car while the driver was loading students onto the bus. The photo and his testimony about the series of situations he regularly confronted of vehicles ignoring the school bus “stop paddle” while loading or unloading students on the school bus were well received by the committee. His efforts gave strong momentum to PSE’s bill, SB 5540, to protect students and take the burden off bus drivers to be both their protector and a law enforcement official.
When school bus drivers load or unload students on the bus, they put out their stop paddle. Unfortunately, some drivers ignore the stop paddle and nearly hit students. While the “near hits” have not resulted in recent serious injuries, the volume of incidents are increasing. We think a major reason why they are increasing is that the current law depends upon the bus driver to identify the make, model, color, and year of the car as well as personal characteristics of the driver, e.g., hair color, race, gender. A consistent complaint of drivers is that it is nearly impossible to protect the students while at the same time recognizing the necessary features of the car and driver for a successful prosecution. Bus drivers would like to try a new approach.
Enter new technology, video cameras combined with a new enforcement procedure. Instead of ticketing the vehicle driver, this bill will result in tickets to the vehicle owner based upon a photo of the car’s license plate.
The committee is expected to vote on the bill in the next week.
Here is the hearing on the bill:
Posted by: Doug Nelson on 2/16/2011 at 11:16:00 PM
PSE’s bill to improve school bus safety, SB 5540, was introduced yesterday in the Senate. Senator Steve Hobbs (Lake Stevens democrat) agreed to be our prime sponsor; other sponsors were Senators Jerome Delvin (Tri Cities republican), Curtis King (Yakima republican), and Mike Hewitt (Senate Republican leader from Walla Walla).
This bill addresses a common complaint of bus drivers. When they load students on their bus, vehicles put students in jeopardy by driving around the bus even though their bus “stop paddle” is out and their red lights are on. As frustrating as that is, it only gets worse when they try to enforce the law that doubles the penalty on drivers who violate the law. To catch a perpetrator not only do they have to identify the vehicle license number,make, model, and year of the vehicle, they also have to identify the vehicle driver (e.g., gender, and other identifying characteristics). This has proved to be nearly impossible for drivers because they are focused on protecting the students, not identifying the driver (especially a driver who is speeding away so as not to be identified).
This bill will change the law by allowing school districts to put cameras on the outside of the bus to record the violation. At the same time, instead of the vehicle driver getting a fine, the registered owner of the vehicle will receive a fine for the violation. It gets even better. The cameras and enforcement procedures will come at no cost to the district. A public-private partnership will allow a private contractor to install cameras and process violations. Any revenue received above the cost of the equipment and administration of the cameras will go into a school district safety account.
All in all, a win-win for the students, drivers, and school district.
PSE leaders, along with classified school employee unions representing over 1 million school workers, have arrived in Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress and promote classified legislation.
One of the surprises of SB 5940 was the last minute appearance of a $5 million grant for school districts who do the best job meeting the standards of the legislation. The grants will be awarded to school districts in …
