Today is a timely hearing with children out of school. To see what needs to be done to keep them safe. Im interested in keeping them safe not only as a get on and off school buses but in keeping them safe in the streets as they go to school. It is true that school buses have a relatively safe safety record. It is also true that children are injured every day or every year in bus related crashes. More than, i believe, and most accidents, we owe it to our children, to these students to examine why these fatalities occur and what can be done to prevent them. There are school buses in my own district. Most take other modes of transportation, including walking, biking or riding in a car, going on public transportation. Children are often at greater risk outside the school bus than inside it. 264ave figures showing students who died in School Transportation related accidents in the last 10 years. 97 were struck by a vehicle while walking near the bus. We are going to hear today from what congress can do to stop violations by drivers who illegally Pass School Buses loading or unloading passengers , and to reduce fatalities or injuries as a result of these crashes. But as i indicated, i am interested in what we can do about children whether or not they are on or off buses. The burden of providing School Transportation, we are aware of course falls on the states and local districts. Some states are ahead of others in improving School Bus Safety. We know the state of new jersey which im pleased is represented today. I look forward to hearing what congress can do. To help ensure that we have safe vehicles. I want to thank each of the witnesses. For appearing today. We will listen attentively. What congress can do recognizing how much of the responsibility falls on the states. I am pleased to recognize mr. Davis. Im pleased to recognize mr. Davis, our Ranking Member. Thank you very much, madam chair. The subcommittee will focus on School Bus Safety. Buses00,000 school transporting more than 25 Million School children to and from school each day. School bus safety is an important part of the discussion. Statistics show the school bus is the safest and most regular ted vehicle on the road. According to american schoolbus council, children are 75 times more likely to get to School Safely taking a bus when compared to walking, biking or traveling by car. With that said, ntsa most recent estimates are that School Bus Crashes account for roughly 0. 4 of traffic totalitys on a traffic fatalities on a nationwide basis. No matter how safe statistics show school buses are, we unfortunately see 46 children die each year on the school buses. And another 1015 die as a result of cars passing. Each fatality resulting from a schoolbus crash is more than a statistic. In my district, we saw a tragic accident were a truck collided with a schoolbus transporting a local Basketball Team home from the game. Lives innts lost their that accident, nine others were injured including eight students. It is my hope we can address School Bus Safety and a bipartisan manner that prevents such instances from occurring in the future. This subcommittee has jurisdiction over two agencies that play an Important Role in School Bus Safety, ntsa and fmcsa. Standards,he provides inService Training for bus drivers and develops public , awareness programs related to School Bus Safety. Fmcsa establishes rules for commercial drivers licensing and requires School Bus Drivers to have a cdl with a school bus endorsement. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about ways to make schoolage children safer as they wait for, load and unload, and ride a school bus. I want to thank our witnesses for being with us this morning and i look forward to hearing their testimony. I yield back to the chair. I am pleased to recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Defazio. He has an opening statement. Rep. Defazio thank you. This is our second safety hearing of the year leading to reauthorization. The first hearing we heard testimony about highway fatalities, a hundred people die every day in Motor Vehicle accidents per that is a life every 15 minutes. 37,133 in 2017. We need to look at ways to reduce those fatalities. Obviously we are doing better on the transportation of our precious kids on school buses. But it is not perfect. We will hear conflicting testimony today. And i would hope that members of the panel might depart from their prepared remarks and respond to someone who goes earlier. For example, mr. Benish from the and sta will come out strongly against any federal mandate for seatbelts on school buses. The ntsb will talk about what they see and have felt for a long time for lap and shoulder. We will hear from chief fulton about how new jersey is doing what others say is not possible because of seat configuration, size of children, et cetera. That will be an interesting contrast. I think theres more substantial agreement on finding ways to better identify the bad apples. Those who have had poor driving records or Significant Health issues and other things. There have been states that moved forward with prompt notification. New jersey is on a daily basis. Any violations by School Bus Drivers. Looking at the national cdl registry and other things that the federal government does control might provide some benefit in those areas. I look forward to the testimony, and this will help instruct us on whether or not we need to include any new provisions in the Service Transportation reauthorization, which i expect to have done by early next year. That, i yield back the balance my time. Rep. Thank you chairman defazio. I know the majority leader provide us with information and wants to proceed on infrastructure. Perhaps new information that can be included in a bill. I did not use all of my time, and i pleased to yield my am remaining time, 2. 5 minutes to mr. Cohen who has had an experience that i think is the best way to lead off this hearing. I yield my good friend from tennessee. 2. 5 minutes. 2016 there were two schoolbus crashes most notable in the country, one in baltimore and one in chattanooga. 12 children were killed. In chattanooga six children killed and 20 injured. After those crashes, the ntsb issued a series of safety recordations to the highway Traffic Safety administration. And that was great. And they issued them to the administration and to the states to improve School Bus Safety. One of the recommendations included that states should enact laws to have all large school buses equipped with three point seatbelts. Other recommendations included Safety Measures such as inclusion of Collision Avoidance systems and automatic braking technology. Sadly and unfortunately, and unfathomably, the national Highway Transportation Safety Administration has not initiated the process to enshrine any of these life sitting measures into lifesaving measures into federal regulations. And why i have no idea. They should have acted. Before this. Today i introduced hr3959, with senator tammy duckworth. It implements recommendations to make School Buses Safer by making sure there are safety belts in every seat and their is a auto braking system. Also Fire Protection standards and Fire Suppression systems to address engine fires. Additionally the bill would create a Grant Program to help School Districts modify buses to meet these safety modifications. I Hope Congress will work to enact these longoverdue measures. Theres no more precious cargo than our children. I have been trying to do this since i was a state senator. I know it is difficult to get beyond the industries. But it is something we need to do. And School Safety belts will save lives. Ank the back and thin chairman for her time. I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to declare recesses during todays hearing, without objection so ordered. I also ask unanimous consent that members not on the subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at todays hearing. And ask questions. Im going to introduce the panel of witnesses. Before i introduce them all, im going to yield to mr. Davis. To introduce mr. John benish. Thank you madam chair. Im pleased to introduce john benish jr. , the president of the National Transportation association and a resident of the great state of illinois. Mr. Benish, thank you for testifying today. And thank you for the commendable work you and the other Bus Operators do in keeping our kids safe. The overwhelming number of kids that travel safely back and forth to our schools every day on your school buses ought to also be commended. We ought to address the issues and Transportation Safety regarding school buses and other modes of transportation. But lets not forget that there is an overwhelming amount of students, the overwhelming majority, that arrive safely, go home safely, and do it again the next day, until they graduate High School Like my kids did this year. So, no more school buses for me for a while, but thanks for your service and things for being here today. Thank you mr. Davis. Im going to run down the names of the witnesses and then call on them. We are pleased to welcome the honorable Andrew Mclean house chairman joint Standing Committee on transportation main state who is here on behalf of the National Conference of state legislatures. In addition, the honorable brenda sue fulton, chair and chief administrator new jersey Motor Vehicle of the commission also, ms. Kristin poland. Dr. Poland is the Deputy Director of the office of Highway Safety of the national Transportation Safety board. And ms. Ann farrow, the president and ceo the American Association of automotive vehicle administrators. Mr. Matthew condon, north town, pennsylvania. And cold. Cough i welcome all of you, and we will proceed left to right. Try to give your testimony within five minutes or your Opening Statements rather than five minutes. I would like to welcome or ask first to speak, mr. Mclean, who is speaking for the National Conference of state legislatures. You may proceed. Turn on your microphone. Thank you very much. Chairman holmes norton, Ranking Member davis, and distinguished members, my name is Andrew Mclean, i am cochair of the National Conference of state legislatures, National Resources and infrastructure committee. I appear for you today representing 50 state legislators. Every school day more than 25 million children climb into 485 ,000 buses across the country that take them to and from School Related activities. Thankfully, school buses are statistically the safest way to transport School Children per however 61 children School Children who are school bus occupants died in crashes. This is 61 children too many. States have responded with laws that fall into three category per laws required seatbelts, laws authorizing cameras mounted on stop arms to cite drivers that illegally pass and stop school buses, and laws making changes to requirements for School Bus Drivers. Overall, 35 states have debated more than 250 School Safety bills in 2018. 200 bills in 2019 thus far. Compare this to 132 bills in 2014, and 173 bills in 2015. You can see there has been an uptick in legislative interest in bus safety. School buses are designed to protect riders through compartmentalization using highenergy observing seatbacks and closely spaced seats so children are kept snug. However, these features do not necessarily protect children the way seatbelts do during side impact crashes or highspeed rollovers when passengers can be thrown from their seats. In may of 2018, a School Bus Crash took the life of one student and one teacher in new jersey. In response, new jersey enacted legislation requiring lap shoulder seatbelts instead of solely lap belts. In addition to new jersey, seven other states required safety belts on school buses. In 2018, where than 118 School Bus Drivers observed 84 thousand vehicles illegally passing school buses in one single day. Thankfully, most state laws require vehicles on both sides of the road without a median to stop and remain stopped while School Bus Stop arms and flashing red lights are to play. Are deployed. In 2014, wyoming became the first state to require all school buses to be equipped with a camera system to capture images of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses. States have also added language to protect privacy concerns. Alabamas law requires the images or video not include the face of a driver or passengers and be destroyed within 90 days if there is no violation. Overall, 21 states explicitly allow local governments or School Districts to use cameras to capture images and issue tickets for drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses. States have also moved to increase penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus. Illinois now requires revocation of a drivers license when someone illegally passes a school bus. And the violation leads to a Motor Vehicle crash resulting in death. Finally, i would like to for example, new york enacted a bill that requires all School Bus Drivers to take preemployment alcohol and drug testing and be subject to random testing, with all drivers to be included in the random testing pool. New york enacted a bill that required all School Bus Drivers be subject to random testing with all drivers required to be included in the random testing pool. States have also increased School Bus Driver training requirements. Rhode island enacted a law requiring the annual training for School Bus Drivers include a Service Training series. This is my fourth term serving as state legislature in the as a state legislator in the house of representatives, and that their time chairing this committee and this past session was the most active in terms of legislation addressing School Bus Safety. Just over a month ago in midjune, maine passed two bills focused on bus safety. One will now require school buses purchased after this year to be equipped with a School Bus Crossing Arm and another addressed the issue of cars passing school buses. Initially, there was interest and simply increasing fines for violators, but we know that increasing the penalties does not actually solve the problem. We engage in this working group identified the enforcement of existing laws is the challenge because there is no way to identify a vehicle when the bus driver is the only person to have witnessed the violation. The working Group Recommended allowing the use of a camera and Traffic Control device to identify the violator. This was very controversial given our states high regard for privacy, however, the testimony from grieving parents and Community Members was powerful and convincing. Too many kids are being hurt or killed while near a school bus. Madam chairman, i thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important topic and i look forward to your questions. Chairman norton thank you very much. Next, the chair and chief administrator of the new jersey Motor Vehicle commission. Brenda sue fulton. Ms. Fulton thank you and good afternoon. I am here representing the new jersey Motor Vehicle commission and governor murphy, and we are grateful for the opportunity to speak on such an important topic. Last year, as you heard, a School Bus Crash in mount olive, new jersey, tragically took the lives of a fifthgrader and a social studies teacher. And injured dozens of children. This crash broke our hearts and caused us to take a close look at how we keep our kids safe. New jersey is second to none in ensuring that our school buses are safe. Everyone of our 23,000 school buses is inspected at least twice a year with a review of driver qualifications as well as vehicle safety. Our task force conducts an additional 100 unannounced inspections. Unannounced inspections have been particularly critical to identify private operators who have unlicensed or otherwise unqualified operators driving their school buses. We started requiring lap belts on all school buses in 1992 and we remain one of only seven states that requires them. In 1986, we started to require every bus be equipped with a crossing arm that swings out and prevents children from passing directly in front of the bus. This was modeled after betsys law in washington state. With the passing of abigails law in 2017, all new Jersey School buses were required to have sensors in front and back detect an object or small child below the field of view. Every night, the Motor Vehicle department generates a report of any driver whose license has been suspended and transmits it to the new Jersey Department of education for action. But after the devastating loss of Jennifer Williamson and 10yearold miranda, we resolved to do even more. In the first two years of its administration, governor murphy signed eight laws aimed at improving the safety of school buses. These laws now require the following. One, all newly purchased school buses must have threepoint belts. Two, in the past, School Bus Drivers who accumulated 12 or more points were scheduled for suspension. Under recently scheduled legislation, they are now scheduled for suspension if they received three or more moving violations in a threeyear a road, or six or more points, and they must complete a defensive driving course to be restored. Three, bus transportation are notified by the department of education of suspensions within one working day and must confirm that the suspended driver is no longer operating a school bus. 4, in addition to the commercial driver license requirement from a medical examiner of two years, schoolbus drivers aged 7074 must provide evidence of a medical exam every year, and drivers aged 75 and over must provide evidence of the exam every six months. Five states, conducting a study of school five, the state is conducting a study of School Bus Passenger safety, and finally, as a local level, School Bus Drivers and School Bus Aides must complete training biannually, and School District transportation survivors must complete an approved Certification Program at an institute of higher education. In some respects, we are fortunate that our governor, education commissioner, state legislators and members of congress, have all pulled together to enact measures to make our kids safer. But it has not escaped anyones notice that too many of these laws have names. Betsy, abigail, miranda. Too many tragedies. Too much loss. If i could convey any message to our sister states and to you members of this committee, it would be this do not wait for another child to die before you take action. I welcome your questions. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Chairman norton i appreciate that moving testimony. Dr. Poland, deputy, highway Transportation Safety. Dr. Poland good afternoon. Thank you for inviting the ntsb to testify today regarding School Bus Safety. School bus travel is one of the safest forms of transportation on a road today. Children are safer traveling and school buses than any other , improvementstill can be made. Today, i will focus my remarks on ntsb recommended movements driver oversight, Fire Protection, and the safety of children in the School Bus Loading zone. Compartmentalization, the current form of occupant protection on large school buses, is a passive system that performs well in frontal collisions. In side impact collisions and rollovers, it provideslete, and insufficient protection. In 2008, there was a final rule published that established standards for both lap and lap shoulder belt a voluntarily installed on large school buses. With the federal regulation in place, some jurisdictions are now equipping buses with the safety equipment, but there is no federal requirement for a large school buses to be equipped with passenger Left Shoulder press. Belts. Additionally, more recent School Bus Crashes have emphasized the need for change. Last year, following the catastrophic school bus trash chattanooga, tennessee, the ntsb required that each state require lap shoulder belts to be installed. For driver oversight resulted in another 2016 crash in baltimore, maryland, as well as the chattanooga crash. Case, the driver continued to operate school buses unsafely with no remedial action being taken even in the face of known Driver Safety issues. Improving driver oversight can prevent crashes. In the chattanooga crash, the bus driver had about five months of School Bus Driving experience during which he accumulated numerous complaints about his driving performance. There was no systematic method for recording, tracking, or investigating complaints of driver behavior. In the baltimore crash, the driver had a longstanding seizure disorder yet was allowed to continue driving the school bus. We concluded that the driver understood his diagnosis of epilepsy and intentionally hid this during his examination. Further, although Baltimore CityPublic Schools was responsible for driver oversight, it failed to identify the bus driver as high risk. The ntsb has investigated several bus fires dating back to the 1988 collision near carrollton, kentucky resulted in 27 deaths. More recently in december, 2017, a fire ignited in the engine compartment of a school bus and spread to the passenger compartment, resulting in two debt. Deaths. Deaths in two the bus was not equipped with an automatic Fire Suppression system that would have delivered a suppressant inside the vehicles engine compartment, increasing the time to evacuate. Issued recommendations and we also address similar recommendations directly to the school bus manufacturers. In addition, we recommended that there was an update to the requirements for flammability of school bus interior materials. We know that more children are injured or killed in the School Bus Loading zone than on the bus itself. Following our investigation of a 2016 collision in which a child was privily struck while crossing the roadway to board his school bus in minnesota, the board recommended that nitsa access and . . . . . . . . . Update the guidelines on pupil Transportation Safety to address pedestrian issues. We are now investigating three additional loading zone crashes in indiana, georgia, and mississippi in order to identify countermeasures for preventing or mitigating future injuries or fatalities in the School Bus Loading zone. Thank you for the opportunity to provide our recommendations for improving School Bus Safety. I would be pleased to answer any questions you have. Chair norton thank you. President and ceo cook, illinois corporation, testified on behalf of of the national School Transportation association, you may proceed. Good afternoon, Ranking Members and members of the subcommittee chairwoman norton, and thank you for calling this hearing today. I am the president and chief operating officer of Cook Illinois Corporation based in illinois. I would also like to acknowledge my wife christine, who is here with me today. My dad started the company in 1958 with 75 buses. Today, the Company Operates 2200 school buses, and we transport over 100,000 children in the chicagoland area. I started in the business as a teenager, and have worked nearly every position, including cdl license to driver and occasionally you will even see our buses toe of keep in touch with drivers and students. I am here today on behalf of the national School Transportation association, the trade association for private School Bus Companies that provide School Bus Service under contract. Private companies provide approximately 38 of the nations School Bus Service. I just became the new president yesterday at our annual meeting in austin, texas. We have a saying in our industry that we bleed yellow. , it signifies our commitment to safety for the children we transport. Each day, nearly 500,000 school buses transport over 26 Million Students to and from school. More than innercity, transit rail, and aviation combined. According to dot, the school bus is the safest form of surface transportation. And as nitsa states, the school bus is the safest vehicle on the road. They operate in road and highway environments where approximately 37,000 fatalities occur annually. School bus transportation averages only 46 fatalities annually. We mourn with the entire School Transportation community and families come at wendys rare instances occur, and attempt to learn from them, to ensure continued safety and transportation. Despite the safety record, children remain vulnerable during the courses of the trip when they are waiting for the bus stops, crossing streets, and loading unloading from the school bus. D. O. T. Statistics show an average of 22 students are killed annually outside the school bus. Compared to an average of 46 students that are killed annually inside the school bus. Observational surveys indicate an estimated 15 million vehicles illegally passed stopped school buses, and a 180 day school in a 180day school year. Sometimes pictures speak louder than words. At this time, i would like you to review a short clip of an Illegal Passing that occurred with one of our members in new jersey last summer. [video clip] this child walked away with a few broken bones, but sometimes, Illegal Passing has tragic consequences. Last october in rochester, indiana, three children from one family were killed by an oncoming driver who failed to stop for kids crossing the road to board the school bus. These tragedies can be prevented. We believe this is the most important issue facing the School Bus Transportation industry, eclipsing all others. This is why we are supporting a bipartisan bill introduced in representatives were mirsky and brownlee, the stop for school bus act. I would like to ask for a fromed support letter additional associations, to be inserted to the record. If we are serious about saving childrens lives, this is the issue to tackle. Regarding seatbelts, we believe this issue is most appropriately decided at the state and local level, closest to the funding streams for schools. Nitse has refused to enforce school bets on large buses of the federal level, due to the fact that it would force more children into unsafe modes of transportation. As communities are compelled to make difficult budget decisions, we stand with nhtsa on this issue. For the opportunity to justify, and in the forward to answering interview questions. Chairman norton thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today with this distinguished panel. Speaking on the important issue of School Bus Safety. I am here on behalf of a nonprofit organizations that develops programs and Highway Safety. Our mission is to support the state, provincial, and territorial officials in the u. S. And canada, who administer and enforce Motor Vehicle laws. Our northstar is safety, safe drivers safe vehicles, secure , identities, and saving lives. Guidance, weers develop programs to develop reciprocity to face these challenges across state and international borders. A good illustration of the organizations work is our support of our state members and their efforts to comply with National Laws governing commercial drivers, just one example. In that role, the supporting role, we support and facilitate the development of best practices on cdl testing, we facilitate an understanding and communication on federal requirements, and those changes that come about periodically, and we work on both building and supporting and operating the i. T. Applications and networks across which cdl convictions, suspensions, are transmitted. Rwise known as we rely heavily on jurisdiction members to guide our associations work, and we consider the dmvs and Highway SafetyAgency Members to be the experts. With this in mind and understanding we have a very distinguished panel of jurisdiction leaders at the table, far more qualified on on their statespecific programs. I have limited my written comments to several national aamva isin which currently involved. The National Employer notification system, the transmission of driver medical fitness data, and some background in the written testimony on the commercial drivers license information system, the Network Across which so much about troubles. I look forward to the committeediscussion, and thank you for the opportunity to join this panel today. Chair norton thank you. Secretarytreasurer matthew condron, teamsters local 384 from the sylvania, please forward. Thank you for having me here to testify today. My name is matt condron, and i am the secretarytreasurer of teamsters local 384 in pennsylvania. I also work as a member of the First StudentNational MasterAgreement Negotiating Committee for the teamsters, where i set up National Contracting goals and policies for teamster School Bus Drivers across the country. I am honored to be here today to convey the safety concerns of the more than school bus 30,000 drivers, monitors, and mechanics we represent. These hardworking men and women who ive had the honor of representing for over 18 years, need your help to make their industry and their job safer. Regulations dod almost nothing to help School Bus Drivers. Once a school bus comes off the manufacturing line, there are no federal rules requiring that it becomes in a safe working condition. Many people are shocked to learn that the u. S. Government please almost no role at setting minimum standards of school bus operation in our country. This is a recipe for disaster. Private companies posed to make money or small School Districts strapped for cash are often left to decide if whether investing in safe drivers and new buses is a smart, financial decision instead of whether it is the right one. This should never be a dollars and cents calculation. It should be based on what is safest for our children every time. In my view, many of these problems come down to the lack of rules governing School Bus Operations across the country. The privatized schoolbus industry gives us a perfect example. Almost one third of School Bus Operations in this nation are privatized. But there are no National Standards dictating what an unsafe or unreasonable bid for a private contractor to do this work is. Almost any bus company can come off the street and make a big to take your kid to school. Often times, this means that small mom and pop Bus Companies who do not have the money to invest in new school buses, or do not pay the drivers enough to keep qualified people in the drivers seat, will come in and offer way less than they should to do this work. You may think that no School District would accept this kind of offer, and i wish you were right. But in many cases, School Districts are forced by law to accept the lowest bid that they receive. For cashstrapped School Districts, saving money anywhere can be appealing, no matter what the longterm costs. This practice also puts safe responsible carriers trying to do the right thing at a disadvantage. Unionized carriers who are forced to take a make those investments are punished for making those investments. Their undercut by companies who dont invest in things of every bus company should be for to him best in proper maintenance of their buses, paying their drivers a decent wage, and more. Safety should be open to competition, it should be something that every School District has to invest in come to matter what. You can make sure there are basic standards in place, so that no School District falls through the cracks. Make sure that they naturally have enough to do the work. When they dont, kids are taken to school in vehicles, sitting in the aisles on top of each other, putting them in enormous danger. If there is a crash, or even a short turn on a winding road, you need to make sure that anyone bidding on a bus route has a real Maintenance Program in place where kids are not being taken to school on a bus with a broken stop sign, bad tires broken mirrors, breaks kes that have never been inspected, or worse. You need to make sure that the companies have real Driver Training in place so the driver with the cdl knows the basics of what to do and what not to do when there are 50 screaming children in the back of the bus. And most importantly, you need to make sure that drivers get a decent wage and real benefits so that good, safe drivers want to do this job, and once they are here, they stay here. The people that we asked to drive our children to school are some of the lowest paid professionals in this country. They get paid about 15 an hour and usually dont get to work 40 hours in a week. You only get paid for nine months a year unlike other school employees. Many of them cannot afford to take a day off and they are to sit to drive, and often times, they will be reprimanded or fired if they do. Many drivers need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, so they are exhausted when they show up to drive the route. Is that how you want someone who is driving your kid to school to be treated . The lack of federal oversight of even the most basic Safety Standards puts us all at risk. It is time that we take the lead and drive in this industry so no child is put in harms way on their way to school. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Chair norton thank you, secretary condron. I am amazed to see that so many School Bus Drivers might not even be anybodys jurisdiction because they have been privatized, something the committee has to look at. I am going to begin with these questions. First of all, we heard many andgs that to be changed, many helpful suggestions from you. Now, remember that we are a federal authority, and much of the jurisdiction lies in the state, i would like to ask each of you as my first question, to focus on the federal government. I am looking for you to indicate what priority do you think congress should place of the improvements needed that the congress could implement . Which would be your priority . Many of you had a number of different kinds of things that needed to be done. I will start with mr. Mcqueen and go down the line and asked that question. What priority for the congress . Mr. Mcqueen thank you for the question. We prefer a character versus a stick. One of the great things about democracy as we have so many laboratories of democracy. Different states are exploring Different Solutions. Chair norton you do not think that there is something that congress can do for a carrot or a stick . Mr. Mclean i do think that you are several things that government can do. Research the effectiveness of Different Solutions that states are exploring. I mentioned exploring the stop , therehe crossing guards is very little data on what will actually solve the problem of kids being hurt and killed on or around school buses. So continuing with the research on effective strategies is one way that congress can play a role. Additionally, incentivizing safety programs with states is a really important tool to incentivize different states. Chair norton i need to go down the line, incentivizing is very broad. Miss fulton . Ms. Fulton thank you. from our standpoint, i would prioritize a notification system that crosses states. In new jersey, our drivers are driving in other states quite frequently. Chair norton Identification Systems . Hon. Fulton sorry, notification systems. If a new jersey driver is convicted outside of the state, we do get notice that that is a suspension and we can notify, but if a new york driver is in our states, that notice may be sent through the mail and may take time before new york signs out of the School Bus Driver was convicted of something that put them over the number of points. So we have gotten a lot of support from the nonprofit , but whilen, aamva there are some ways to cross states in terms of identifying a driver that should be taken out of the drivers seat chair norton i want to get to all of them before my five minutes is up, but that is a classic thing that congress can do, so thank you for that. Dr. Poland thank you. The ntsb has long advocated for forward Collision Avoidance, stability control systems, automatic emergency braking systems, occupant protection everyone has talked about lap shoulder belts, and most recently, talking about postcrash events. Fire protection chair norton those are things that only congress can do . Dr. Poland Vehicle Design aspects. We focus on that iin nhtsa. Chair norton mr. Benish, my time will run out. Mr. Benish one of the things in my testimony was the stop at, the stop act. Illegal passing laws. Chair norton that is the federal government that can do that . Mr. Benish yes. The statistics, it today we figure that there are at least 80,000 Illegal Passings. Chair norton i am just trying to get the priorities. Mrs. Ferro in support of chief fultons comment regarding oversight of drivers, research and tools to ensure that states and companies have timely access to driver conviction suspension cancellation data. Chair norton thank you. Secretary condron . Sec. Condron one thing that we dont want to look for is, there is a shortage of bus drivers generally across this country, and legislation that would diminish the pool of drivers would be a detrimental issue when trying to find who is taking the children to school. We agree that there should be a ization. The bidding process needs to be adjusted where all schools can look at the safety aspects as opposed to accepting the lowest bid, certainly with bus safety. But the standardization of the safety rolls across the country thank you. Those are very helpful suggestions as we prepare for the next bill. It sounds as if it is way behind given suggestions on things we can do so i appreciate those suggestions, those recommendations from all of you our Ranking Member if you would offer his questions at this time. Thank you to the witnesses. In illinois,ndent he has been inactive he has been active in making sure children get safely to school. Has been fake system focused on the Role Technology can play when they cross the street. In front, this past january, his district produce stop cameras. Forow he is always looking new technology to help keep his students and our kids safe. With that in mind, i want to start with mr. Benish. Are there existing technologies we can use . What we are looking at right now is a legal passing law, making sure we look at not only. He technology as far as radar we discussed the other day that justere is a stopped bus, like you have a system or ambulance can go through red lights come a system where that would be hooked up to a bus and i would talk to the cars in the area that there is a stop school bus were slowing down. Dowould also like to creative Public Safety messaging and do more technology as far as training with drivers. Anybody else want to take that question . Technology . I will add to that. A little technology is available out there. I had a School Bus Driver with four first grade boys. Andet three off at one stop the other off at the other stop. One day, the mom took home one of the boys herself so instead of having three at one stop, he only had two but unbeknownst to him, the second stop, the other one stop kid got off with the other two so he pulls up to the stop to let three boys off when he only had two and three get off. He goes to the following stop and what does he find . He secures the vehicle and the mom is waiting for her son to get off and there is no child. Where is that child . Kaman doesnt know and the driver doesnt know. That child got off at the previous stop. We have technology out there that we can scan a barcode in any dimension, store, why dont we have a lanyard on a child that scans him and when he gets on the bus and off the bus. Everybody knows where these children are. It is easy to check. It helps the drivers and parents, and keeps these kids safe. If there was some fatality accident, the First Responders would certainly know how many children, boys and girls, and what their ages are and dont have to shake shadows when they chase shadows. Excellent advice. Welcome back. Are there any existing barriers at the federal level that prevents states at the local level from Safety Solutions . Im trying to position that question in the context of amva to see what that would be in regard to. From the perspective of Motor Vehicle administrators, they would be working closely on any National Programs with the federal agency and structuring a program at the state level. In terms of ang system . Past theotten technology issues, but i want to know, youve had experience at the witness table before. Are there any barriers you see at the federal level that stop states from implementing the or themeasures suggestions that we just heard from mr. Benish or any other innovative approach . Ms. Ferro i am not in the position to answer what would be a barrier at the federal level. Rep. Davis how about you, ms. Folton . Thank you. We have not run into any barriers to strengthening the protection of our kids other than what i mentioned which is keeping track of what happens intrastate. Keeping track of drivers outside of the state. Rep. Davis you know what, thats ok. I saved mr. Mclean for last. What barriers do you think exist because clearly, on the panel, others dont feel that there are barriers to state and local legislators and local officers being able to implement more Safety Standards. Rep. Mclean i think one of the most significant barriers is money. When we enact bills at the local level, we are considering where local School Districts and cities and towns have for a budget. Every time we put a requirement on local cities and towns, we have to incorporate fiscal impact. That is a significant barrier at the state level that we have to consider when passing laws. Rep. Davis i would ask you how we could fix it, but i am out of time. I yield back. Chair norton i must note to my very good friend, and he is my good friend, asked the opposite of what i asked. He wants to know if the federal government is in the way, and if there is more that we can do to get out of the way. Mr. Garcia . Rep. Garcia thank you, chairwoman norton and Ranking Member davis for organizing this hearing. As a father of three, i know how stressful it can be to worry about our childrens safety, and i applaud this committee to evaluate these Safety Measures today. Question for ms. Poland, as you mentioned in your written testimony, an emergency braking system can serve to mitigate collisions. Earlier this year, i joined my colleague hank johnson from georgia to introduce an act to require commercial Motor Vehicles to be equipped with an automatic emergency brake or aeb system. In 2015, in an agreement with the national highway Traffic Safety administration, the ntsb recommended that all aeb come standard with all Passenger Vehicles to help mitigate and avoid collisions. Briefly, would you extend the same recommendation to school buses and or commercial Motor Vehicles as my legislation does . The ntsb actually has recommended automatic emergency braking for commercial vehicles and school buses. Most recently, we recommended this technology for school buses in our baltimore and chattanooga special investigations report. As you are emphasizing in the work you are talking about, automatic emergency braking provides protection in the last moments if there is a crash that is eminent and provides that imminent and provides that braking to mitigate the forces involved with the crash and in some cases, to avoid it. Again, the ntsb has been a long advocate for this type of technology. Rep. Garcia switching gears slightly, crash avoidance and mitigation technologies are critical to School Bus Safety. I would like to transition to a safety issue that is too often overlooked. The safety of the air our children breathe on school buses. I am working with senator kamala harris, and a colleague, a former educator from connecticut to introduce the clean air bus act. Children rely on the School Bus Fleet to get to school daily. The tailpipe emissions that they are exposed to intransit and while idling in these buses are extremely toxic, especially as some of the school bus yards are located in urban areas. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the american s state of then po air report. It further highlights the toxicity of air and heavy duty diesel engines including school buses. Thank you. This pollution negatively affects school attendance, health, and test scores, a burden that also tends to fall proportionally on lowincome students and students of color like those in the district i represent, chicago southwest and northwest sides. The Clean School Bus act would provide diesel buses to be replaced with electric buses to reduce student exposure to tailpipe emissions and curb our contribution to the climate crisis. Question for mr. Mclean, i as a former county commissioner and state legislator, i understand the struggles that states deal with to find funding for Safety Measures like these. Do you believe that states and local governments would be supportive of a federal grant to modernize the School Bus Fleet . Rep. Mclean i do. I think that is a perfect example of one of the incentives the federal government could use increased Safety Measures for kids on school buses. Rep. Garcia in your investigation of the oakland bus fire, you noticed the engine designs often failed to mitigate the spread of gases into the passenger compartment. That could exacerbate a situation involving a fire, but can you speak to whether these fumes can regularly enter into the passenger compartment, even in the absence of a fire . Our investigation focused on the post crash fire in that event, and when there was that significant fire in the engine compartment, how the incomplete firewall led to the fire being able to spread into the passenger compartment. Rep. Garcia can you comment on the entrance of fumes into the bus cavity . The ntsb currently does not have a position on the aspects. Rep. Garcia thank you. I yield back. Chair norton thank you. Wednesday, a conversation of public diplomacy. 11 45, current and former pentagon officials shared their views on cyber defense, artificial intelligence, and the role of space in national security. Two at 7 00 a. M. Eastern, british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson participates in his first Prime Ministers questions section has briggs it negotiations continue. Nine 30 a. M. , the u. S. China economic and Security Review Commission holds a hearing on the relationship between the united date and china. On it is the 23rd annual Development Bank of latin america conference in washington, d. C. On issues related to the americas. Cspan,p tonight on next, british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson discusses brexit negotiations before the british house of commons and then Vice President mike pence speaks to reporters in dublin, ireland. After that, Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsburg delivers remarks in little rock, arkansas as part of a special lecture series hosted by the clinton foundation. Late last month, Queen Elizabeth agreed to suspend parliament for five weeks after a request from new british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson. The latest news from overseas as Prime Minister johnson lost his majority in parliament on tuesday when conservative party member philip lee quit and joined the liberal democrats. Who oppose brexit and want to stay in the european union. Members of parliament are expected to press the Prime Minister for his response, and a way forward with brexit during tomorrows Prime Ministers question time, which you can see live starting at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 2. Earlier today, both Prime Minister johnson and Opposition LeaderJeremy Corbyn talked about brexit. This is about half an hour. Order. Statement, the Prime Minister. You, mr. Speaker. Before i begin, im sure the whole house will remember me join me in remembering the 80 countryday in this entered the second world war