Lawmakers will not pass a bill requiring seat belts on school buses this year. Instead, lawmakers intend to gather more information about the issue. <\/p>\n
Monday, the appropriations committee amended a bill that had called for all new school buses purchased after the start of 2012 to have lap-and-shoulder, or three-point belts. The bill would now require the state to study the pros and cons of having seat belts on buses. <\/p>\n
Appropriations Committee Chairman John Geragosian, D-New Britain, offered the amendment, saying that discrepancies were evident in recent estimates made by the legislature’s budget office.<\/p>\n
“It’s clear we need some better information,” Geragosian said. <\/p>\n
The Office of Fiscal Analysis says that purchasing new buses with seat belts would cost local and regional school districts an additional $45.2 million to $103.4 million over a 12-year period. It would cost the state technical school system between $644,000 to $1.5 million. <\/p>\n
The estimates are for 12 years because that is how long it is expected to take to replace the state’s fleet of roughly 6,553 large buses. A new bus with belts is expected to cost, on average, between $80,000 and $116,000. On average, a new bus without seat belts cost between $75,000 and $100,000. <\/p>\n
In addition, the legislature’s budget office says school districts and the technical school system would have to pay an additional $500 per bus annually for maintenance. It adds that the districts may have to buy another bus or add bus routes because seat belts result in less capacity. <\/p>\n
The state Department of Motor Vehicles would have to hire a new bus inspector, at an annual cost of $65,329, if seat belts are required on buses. To comply with a new law, the department would also have a one-time cost of $17,050. <\/p>\n
The transportation committee had passed the seat belt bill last month. It had been referred to the appropriations committee, which opted to amend it. <\/p>\n
The bill was proposed by transportation committee Chairman Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, after a teenager from his hometown died in a bus crash in January. <\/p>\n
Sixteen-year-old Vikas Parikh was riding a school bus to a robotics event Jan.9 when the bus and a car collided on I-84. The bus fell down an embankment, and Parikh died. Several other students and a teacher were injured. <\/p>\n
The final vote on the amended seat belt bill is not available at this time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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