Int. No. 671

By Council Members Dear, Boyland, Malave-Dilan, Lopez, Marshall, White and Wooten; also Council Members Foster, Harrison, Michels, Provenzano, Sabini and Spigner-read and referred to the Committee on Transportation.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring an escort on school buses which transport children in the second or a lower grade.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

                     Section 1. Section 19-603 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision a and by relettering existing subdivisions a and b as subdivisions b and c, respectively, and by amending subdivision b as relettered, to read as follows:

                     §19-603 Escorts.  a. For purposes of this chapter, “school bus,” shall mean a  bus or other motor vehicle used for the purpose of transporting children to or from a school.

[a.] b. All buses and other motor vehicles [transporting handicapped] used to transport disabled children [to and from school in the city] and school buses on which ten percent or more of the regularly scheduled passengers are children in the second or a lower grade shall be staffed, in addition to the driver thereof, with an escort during all trips to and from a school within the city. It shall be the duty and responsibility of such escort to generally supervise and aid the [handicapped] children riding such bus; to require each child to utilize a seat belt or other safety device and to escort the children on and off each bus to an area of safety.

[b.] c. The driver of a bus transporting children to and from school in the city shall not proceed after having halted such bus to take on or discharge a passenger until he or she has received assurance from the escort that the children are seated, have fastened the safety belt on the seat and that it is otherwise safe to proceed.

                     §2. This local law shall take effect immediately.

12/13/99

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