What's happening
This bill creates new crimes for criminal trespass on a school bus, establishing first and second degree offenses with corresponding penalties.
Why it matters
Expands criminal liability. by specifically targeting unauthorized actions on school buses—such as damaging, entering without permission, refusing to leave, or obstructing the bus—creating new grounds for prosecution that go beyond general trespass laws.
Introduces tiered penalties. Second degree offenses (including most unauthorized entry or interference) are classified as misdemeanors, while first degree offenses—where weapons or explosives are involved—are elevated to felonies, reflecting the increased danger to students and staff.
Provides exceptions for minors and school personnel. Children under 16 and authorized school employees acting within their duties are excluded from certain provisions, aiming to prevent inappropriate prosecution of students or staff for routine or minor incidents.
Addresses school safety concerns. by giving law enforcement and school authorities more specific tools to deter and respond to threats or disruptive actions on school buses, potentially improving protections for students during transportation.
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Who cares
Public school bus drivers and school officials
The bill would make specified unauthorized boarding, refusal to leave on demand and willful interference with public school buses a class A misdemeanor.
Children under 16 and authorized school personnel
The bill would exempt children under 16 and school personnel boarding for their job assignments from the boarding, refusal-to-leave and bus-interference provisions, but not the bus-damage provision.
Police and prosecutors
The bill would establish a class C felony for school bus trespass involving specified possession of explosives, deadly weapons or firearms with ammunition, including knowledge of another participant’s possession.
Headline styles
Ban School Bus Trespassing
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2092
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 22, 2019
Introduced by Sen. JORDAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crimes of criminal trespass on a school bus in the first and second degrees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 140.18 to read as follows: § 140.18 Criminal trespass on a school bus in the second degree.
1. A person is guilty of criminal trespass on a school bus in the second degree when he or she:
(a) Willfully demolishes, destroys, defaces, injures, burns or damages any public school bus.
(b) Enters a public school bus while the door is open without permission or invitation to load or unload students, while at a railroad grade crossing, or after being forbidden from doing so by the authorized school bus driver in charge of the bus, or upon demand of a principal of a school to which the bus is assigned or other duly authorized school system official.
(c) As an occupant of a public school bus, refuses to leave the bus on demand of the authorized school bus driver in charge of the bus, or upon demand of a principal of a school to which the bus is assigned or other duly authorized school system official.
(d) Willfully stops, impedes, delays, or detains any public school bus being operated for public school purposes.
2. Paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of subdivision one of this section shall not apply to a child who is less than sixteen years of age or to authorized school personnel who are boarding the school bus as part of their job assignment.
Criminal trespass on a school bus in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08436-02-9
S. 2092 2
§ 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 140.19 to read as follows: § 140.19 Criminal trespass on a school bus in the first degree.
A person is guilty of criminal trespass on a school bus in the first degree when he or she commits the crime of criminal trespass on a school bus in the second degree pursuant to section 140.18 of this article and when, in the course of committing such crime, he or she:
1. Possesses, or knows that another participant in the crime possesses, an explosive or a deadly weapon; or
2. Possesses a firearm, rifle or shotgun, as those terms are defined in section 265.00 of this part, and also possesses or has readily accessible a quantity of ammunition which is capable of being discharged from such firearm, rifle or shotgun; or
3. Knows that another participant in the crime possesses a firearm, rifle or shotgun under circumstances described in subdivision two of this section.
Criminal trespass on a school bus in the first degree is a class C felony.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to estab- lishing the crimes of criminal trespass on a school bus in the first and second degrees
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends the Penal Law by adding a new section 140.18 establish- ing the crime of criminal trepass on a school bus in the second degree (class Amisdeanor).
Section 2 amends the Penal Law by adding a new section 140.19 establish- ing the crime of criminal trespass on a school bus in the the first degree (class Cfelony).
Section 3 sets forth the effective date.
Justification
Parents and guardians expect that, when their children board the school bus every morning, they will be safely conveyed to school without any risk of harm. Sadly, this is often not the case. There have been many cases of individuals boarding school buses and endangering the students aboard, such as an incident from November 2018 in Virginia where a woman boarded a school bus and assaulted a bus driver for previously disci- plining her daughter. This kind of activity is not only unacceptable, but it's also dangerous.
This bill would create criminal trespass on a school bus in the second degree, a class A misdemeanor, when an individual boards a school bus after being forbidden to do so by the driver or other school official, refuses to leave the bus on the demand of a driver or school official, or otherwise destroys, defaces, injures, or damages a public school bus. It would also create criminal trespass on a school bus in the first degree, a class C felony, when an individual commits the above actions while in possession of a weapon or knowingly commits the above actions with knowledge that another participant in the crime is armed.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
First of November next succeeding the date upon which it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.