Bill > S211

Introduced Session

This bill permits municipalities and school districts that own, operate, or otherwise provide Type I or Type II school buses for transporting students, to contract with private vendors to install, operate, and maintain school bus monitoring systems on their school buses to assist in the enforcement of section 1 of P.L.1942, c.192 (C.39:4-128.1), the law which prohibits motor vehicles from passing a school bus while it is stopped to pick up or discharge students. Alleged school bus passing violations captured by a monitoring system are to be compiled into an evidence file and forwarded to the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality. If law enforcement determines that a violation has occurred, a summons is to be issued. Except in cases where the owner of the motor vehicle which unlawfully passed a school bus is a lessor, the owner and operator of the vehicle will be jointly liable for the summons, unless the owner can establish that the vehicle was used without his consent. The bill provides that a recorded image captured by a school bus monitoring system will be deemed sufficient proof of a violation of the law prohibiting motor vehicles from passing a school bus. The bill also amends section 1 of P.L.1942, c.192 (C.39:4-128.1) to upgrade the penalties for the unlawful passing of a school bus. The upgraded penalties provide that violators will be subject to a fine of not less than $300 or more than $500, and be assessed five penalty points. All fines and penalties that are imposed based on recorded images provided by a monitoring system are to be collected by the court and paid to the financial officer of the municipality wherein the violation occurred. The municipality must use the fines and penalties for general municipal and school district purposes, including efforts to improve the monitoring and enforcement of the unlawful passing of a school bus through the utilization of school bus monitoring systems and the provision of public education safety programs. Finally, the bill provides that whenever a municipal prosecutor makes or agrees to a negotiated plea with an individual who has committed a school bus passing violation based upon the recorded images provided by a school bus monitoring system, the court is to assess, in addition to any other fine, fee or other charge imposed by law, a surcharge of $300. This surcharge is to be collected by the court and paid to the financial officer of the municipality wherein the alleged violation occurred and used by the municipality for general municipal and school district purposes.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Bob Auth (R)*,  Nicholas Chiaravalloti (D)*,  Jim Holzapfel (R)*,  Raj Mukherji (D)*,  Troy Singleton (D)*,  Jim Whelan (D)*,  Benjie Wimberly (D)*,  Diane Allen (R),  Arthur Barclay (D),  Christopher Bateman (R),  Jim Beach (D),  Ronald Dancer (R),  Patrick Diegnan (D),  Thomas Giblin (D),  Mila Jasey (D),  Angelica Jimenez (D),  Patricia Jones (D),  Fred Madden (D),  Greg McGuckin (R),  Angela Mcknight (D),  Brian Stack (D),  David Wolfe (R), 

Passed by the Assembly (61-3-6) (on 01/08/2018)