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Politics

Charlie Crist Tries to Jump Start his Stalled Bill Adding Seat Belts to School Busses

May 24, 2018 - 11:30am

Freshman U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., is doubling down on his call for adding seat belts to school busses even as his bill on the matter has not picked up much traction over the past year. 

This week, Crist pointed to new recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which included having lap and shoulder belts for all new large school busses. 

The former Florida governor noted on Wednesday that, in April 2017, he had introduced the “Best to Use Safety (BUS) Belts Act” which would mandate that all new school busses have seat belts. Crist worked on the issue when he served in the Florida Senate in Tallahassee. 

"Our responsibility to keep students safe goes beyond the classroom – we must also provide for safe transportation to and from school," Crist said this week. "I am thankful that the National Transportation Safety Board is joining our call to require seat belts for our children on school buses. We made progress in Florida. Now we need to enhance protections nationwide."

When Crist introduced the bill last year, he noted that the Sunshine State mandates large school busses have safety belts thanks to the proposal he sponsored in the state Senate. Currently, only drivers of large school busses need safety belts under federal law. 

"Families across Florida teach their children to buckle up. But for millions of kids across the country their school bus lacks this basic safety feature," Crist said when he introduced the proposal last year. "All students deserve access to a safe education – this measure simply extends that principle to children’s transportation to and from school."

"Children are provided the protection of three-point belts when they ride in a car. The same protection should be offered to them in school buses. This legislation would enable this to happen," said Deborah A.P. Hersman, the president and CEO of the National Safety Council, in support of Crist’s bill. 

So far, Crist has been able to build nothing in the way of momentum for his proposal. When he introduced the bill, it was sent to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which sent it to the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. The bill was also sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee which sent it to its Subcommittee on Health. It was also sent to the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee. None of those committees or subcommittees have done anything on the legislation over the past year. Nor does Crist have any cosponsors. There is also no version of it over in the U.S. Senate. 

 


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Comments

Charlie “the Windsock” Crist. Gotta live him. Caveat emptor.

Watch how many bills he will put forward that get no traction. Just keeping his name in the game.

This suggestion has already "been done,.. and done" over and over Charlie, ever since YOU rode the school bus daily (and had no 'tan')

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