If you are the sponsor or co-sponsor of this bill, please feel free to comment below about what the reviewer’s comments are.
Bill Details: HB 49S01: Clean Fuel School Buses and Infrastructure
Sponsor: Rep. Stephen Handy, Co-Sponsor:
Bill Summary:
▸ allows the State Board of Education to award a grant to a school district or charter school to:
• replace a school bus manufactured before 2002 with a new school bus that uses alternative fuel or clean diesel fuel;
• install an alternative fuel fueling station for a school bus that uses alternative fuel and that may be accessed by a governmental entity or the public to fuel an alternative fuel vehicle; or
• retrofit a bus shop to service and maintain a school bus that uses alternative fuel;
▸ requires the State Board of Education to make rules related to the awarding of a grant, including rules that:
• specify criteria for selecting a grant recipient; and
• require a grant recipient to provide funding matches in an amount that is greater
Reviewer Name: Pamela Budge, Rating: Oppose
Reviewer Comments:
The high cost attached to this bill is a concern: $20 million from the Education Fund with a requirement of grant recipients (school districts) to match or exceed the grant amount given to them.
In its current form, this bill sets up a “Cash for Clunkers” type program. Line 71-72: requires “a grant recipient to ensure that a replaced school bus is made permanently inoperable”.
A suggestion was made in the House floor debate that these older buses be sold to other states or used in non-attainment (low-pollution) areas. This would reduce the fiscal note of this bill. The bill has not yet been amended to reflect this suggestion.
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