HB84: School buses; requiring safety belts.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 22.1-177 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 22.1-177. Regulations.
A. The Board may make regulations relating to the construction, design, operation, equipment, and color of public school buses and shall have the authority to issue an order prohibiting the operation on public streets and highways of any public school bus which does not comply with such regulations. Any such order shall be enforced by the Department of State Police.
B. The Board shall promulgate regulations requiring that any school bus purchased by, or for use by, any school or school division on or after January 1, 2007, be equipped with safety lap belts or combinations of safety lap belts and shoulder harnesses for all passengers, including the driver. All such safety belts and shoulder harnesses shall be of types approved by the Superintendent of State Police. The Board shall adopt such additional or supplemental policies, guidelines, and regulations as they deem necessary or proper to ensure that all passengers, including the driver, in any school bus equipped with safety belts and shoulder harnesses wear such safety belts and shoulder harnesses at all times when the bus is in motion.
C. Local school boards may, notwithstanding any regulation to the contrary, display decals depicting the flag of the United States on the sides and rear of school buses as long as any such decal does not obstruct the name of the school division or the number of the school bus and is no larger than 100 square inches.
D. No regulation of the Board shall unreasonably limit the authority of any local school division to purchase and use school buses using compressed natural gas or other alternative fuels or convert its school buses to use compressed natural gas or other alternative fuels.