What's happening
This bill requires New York City school bus contracts to include worker retention and benefit provisions, exempts school bus purchases from sales tax, and allows certain tuition benefits for transportation workers.
Why it matters
Protects school bus workers’ jobs, pay, and benefits in NYC. By requiring worker retention, wage, benefit, and seniority protections in all new school bus contracts, the bill ensures that experienced drivers, attendants, and mechanics are less likely to lose their jobs or see their compensation eroded when contracts change hands. This could lead to a more stable, experienced workforce and fewer disruptions for students and families.
May increase costs but strengthens workforce stability. The requirement that the city cover additional costs related to these worker protections could increase contract expenses, but it also aims to prevent labor disputes and strikes that have historically disrupted school transportation, potentially saving money and hassle in the long run.
Sales tax exemption makes bus fleets cheaper to replace or upgrade. Exempting school buses and their parts, fuel, and maintenance supplies from sales tax may enable school districts and bus companies to invest in newer, safer, and possibly cleaner vehicles, improving safety and environmental outcomes.
Allows tuition benefits for transportation workers, with limits. By permitting certain tuition reductions as a fringe benefit for school transportation employees—capped at $4 million annually—the bill could help recruit and retain workers through educational incentives, but also places a clear ceiling on the fiscal impact for the state.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Protect School Bus Workers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to education
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 50–12
- Ordered to third reading cal.2227
- Referred to rules
Full text
4 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6766
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 16, 2017
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the education law and the tax law, in relation to contracts for the transportation of school children
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
a. (1) All contracts for the transportation of school children, all contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his or her opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids if, in his or her opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transportation, maintenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by the board of education or trustee of the district having
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13244-01-7
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general circulation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or triennial extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such extensions [(1)] (i) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, and, [(2)] (ii) do not extend the original contract period beyond five years from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the maintenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the commissioner, in addition to his or her existing statutory authority to approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, [(i)] (A) to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he or she finds that amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consumer price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve month period; and [(ii)] (B) to reject any extension of a contract after ten years from the date transportation or maintenance service commenced thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first provided, if in his or her opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the commissioner may order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board of education or the trustee of a school district electing to extend a contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount to be paid in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to exceed the regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month period, provided it has been satisfactorily established by the contractor that there has been at least an equivalent increase in the amount of his or her cost of operation, during the period of the contract.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, the board of education of a school district located in a city with at least one million inhabitants shall include in contracts for the transportation of school children in kindergarten through grade twelve, whether awarded through competitive bidding or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this
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subdivision, provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of school bus workers and for the preservation of wages, health, welfare and retirement benefits and seniority for school bus workers who are hired pursuant to such provisions for retention or preference in hiring, in connection with such contracts. For purposes of this subparagraph, "school bus worker" shall mean an operator, mechanic, dispatcher or attendant who: (i) was employed as of June thirtieth, two thousand ten or at any time thereafter by (A) a contractor that was a party to a contract with the board of education of a school district located in a city with at least one million inhabitants for the transportation of school children in kindergarten through grade twelve, in connection with such contract, or (B) a subcontractor of a contractor that was a party to a contract with the board of education of a school district located in a city with at least one million inhabitants for the transportation of school children in kindergarten through grade twelve, in connection with such contract, and (ii) has been furloughed or become unemployed as a result of a loss of such contract, or a part of such contract, by such contractor or such subcontractor, or as a result of a reduction in service directed by such board of education during the term of such contract. Any costs directly attributed to the provisions of this subparagraph shall be covered by the board of education of the school district located in a city with at least one million inhabitants.
§ 2. Subdivision (a) of section 1115 of the tax law is amended by adding a new paragraph 45 to read as follows:
(45) School buses as such term is defined in section one hundred forty-two of the vehicle and traffic law, and parts, equipment, lubricants and fuel purchased and used in their operation.
§ 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 3627 of the education law, as amended by section 7 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
(b) reimbursing the cost incurred by licensed transportation carriers pursuant to contracts, which may include fringe benefits including, but not limited to, qualified tuition reductions allowable under federal law, with such school district for providing transportation for those children attending public and nonpublic schools in grades kindergarten through six who remain at the same school for which they are enrolled for regularly scheduled academic classes from half-past nine o'clock in the morning or earlier until four o'clock in the afternoon or later, on weekdays, and reside at least one mile from their school of attendance for grades three through six, and at least one-half mile from their school of attendance for grades kindergarten through two. Provided, however, that qualified tuition reductions allowed by this paragraph and subdivision one of section thirty-six hundred twenty-three-a of this part shall not annually exceed four million dollars.
§ 4. Subdivision 1 of section 3623-a of the education law is amended by adding a new paragraph g to read as follows:
g. For transportation contracts provided pursuant to section thirtysix hundred twenty-seven of this part, which may include fringe benefits including, but not limited to, qualified tuition reductions allowable under federal law. Provided however that qualified tuition reductions allowed by this subdivision and paragraph b of subdivision one of section thirty-six hundred twenty-seven of this part shall not annually exceed four million dollars.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect on the first day of a quarterly sales tax period, as set forth in subdivision (b) of
S. 6766 4
section 1136 of the tax law, next succeeding April 1, 2018 and sections three and four of this act shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after section 23 of part A of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, took effect.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law and the tax law, in relation to contracts for the transportation of school children
Purpose or general idea of bill
To restore employee protection provisions to school bus contracts in NYC, to exempt school bus purchases from sales tax, and to provide for reimbursement of qualified tuition reduction costs paid by a licensed transportation carrier pursuant to a contract.
Summary of provisions
Section one of this bill amends Education Law section 305(14)(a) by designating the existing text as subparagraph 1 and adding a new subparagraph 2. New subparagraph 2 requires the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) to include in its solicitations for contracts for school bus transportation for children in grades kindergarten through 12 ("school bus contracts") provisions for the retention or preference in hiring and the preservation of wages, health, welfare and retirement benefits and seniority of employees who perform or performed work for employers party to such contracts, in connection with such contracts and requires the NYC DOE to pay any costs directly attributable to the provisions.
Read the full memo (830 words)
Section two of this bill amends Tax Law 1115(a) by adding a new paragraph 44 to exempt school buses, parts, equipment, lubricants and fuel from New York State sales tax. Section three of this bill provides that the cost of qualified tuition reduction benefits incurred by licensed transportation carriers
Section three of this bill amends Education Law section 3627(1)(b) to include qualified tuition reductions as a fringe benefit for which a licensed transportation carriers would be reimbursed. The annual reimbursement amount is limited to $4 million.
Section four of this bill amends Education Law section 3623-a(1) by adding a new paragraph (g) to provide that the reimbursement for qualified tuition expenses is limited to $4 million annually.
Section five of this bill provides that this act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect on the first day of a quarterly sales tax period, as set forth in subdivision (b) of section 1136 of the tax law, next succeeding April 1, 2018 and sections three and four of this act shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after section 23 of part A of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, took effect.
Justification
This package of proposals for the school bus industry are needed to bring stability and certainty to the industry.
The EPPs create a master seniority list that school bus companies must use to fill job vacancies. The master seniority list is comprised of employees who become unemployed as a result of reassignment of busing contracts. EPPs require bus contractors to give priority, by seniority, to veteran drivers at the same pay and benefits, including pension rate, as their most recent jobs.
The EPP proposal will ensure that NYC DOE's future school bus contracts will include provisions designed to avoid service disruption and pension withdrawal liability claims, while protecting the experienced school bus contract workforce from drastic wage and benefit reductions and facilitating the retention of an experienced workforce. It will also enable NYC DOE to seek to amend existing contracts that do not include such provisions to include them.
This proposal would also exempt school buses and associated items (parts, equipment, lubricants and fuel) from state and local sales tax. School buses are the only buses not currently exempt from sales tax. Exempting them from sales tax would allow the contractors to convey the savings realized from not paying the tax to the school district as part of the contract negotiations and/or request for proposal process.
Finally, this legislation provides for reimbursement for qualified tuition reductions that may be included in a contractual fringe benefits package. The amount of qualified tuition reductions for which reimbursement would be available is capped $4 million annually.
When this program was placed in law, the statute was silent as to what types of fringe benefits may be provided to bus drivers under the program. Costs for this program have been able to be held at a rate substantially less than standard transportation programs for public school students, due in large part to contracting flexibility afforded under the statute, and the ability to provide fringe benefit incentives, in lieu of salary benefits, including qualified tuition reductions.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect on the first day of a quarterly sales tax period, as set forth in subdivision (b) of section 1136 of the tax law, next succeeding April 1, 2018 and sections three and four of this act shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after section 23 of part A of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, took effect.
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