School Bus Contractors Drive Through Capitol Hill

Ryan Gray | Senior Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Considering it was an industry first, a U.S. senator and a few of congressional representatives hardly constitutes a bad start.

The National School Transportation Association hit Capitol Hill in late April armed with a new Blue Bird Vision and an unparalleled school bus safety record as it kicked off two days of federal lobbying on April 24. No new association policies were adopted, said Robin Leeds, an industry specialist with NSTA. But the visit was more designed to firmly plant the yellow school bus on the radar of congressional members, especially when it comes to the environment and security, especially after the success last year of achieving a House Resolution.

First, the group hit the Rayburn House Office Building, where outside it invited U.S. representatives to stop by, check out the new school bus with magnetic signs indicating the many Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in play, and to ask questions. Notables there included Republican Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama and freshman Rep. Jean Schmidt, the first woman to serve from southern Ohio and a Republican member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Jean Poole of the Transportation Security Administration also stopped by, as did the legislative director for Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the chair of the Subcommittee on Defense. Also stopping by was an aide to Rep. John Mica of Florida, the ranking Republican member of the House transportation committee, and Michael Harrington, the congressional affairs director at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

That afternoon, at the Russell Senate Office Building, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota was on his way to a hearing when he took several minutes to board the school bus parked outside the Russell Senate Office Building and to meet with NSTA board members. He was shown the many safety elements mandated by NHTSA and even sat behind the wheel.

Aides to Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina — a Republican member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — and Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich also attended. One of the aides mentioned he hadn’t been onboard a school bus since he was kid, and he was eager to see if they had changed. The answer, of course: They’ve only gotten safer.

“For the first time out, it was great,” said Becky Weber, an industry lobbyist.
In all, more than a dozen legislative or administration representatives attended.
The grass roots event was looked upon as literally a vehicle to begin discussions with congressional members regarding school bus issues not only affecting the contractor segment but the entire industry, which took place the next day, again in both the House and Senate.

Clearing the Air
NSTA followed on day two with a full slate of meetings with House and Senate staffers, including a panel presentation facilitated by Dawn Fenton of the Diesel Technology Forum that featured Robert Pudlewski, formerly the vice president of fleet operations at Laidlaw and a regular contributor to School Transportation News.

The group discussed the background of the school bus industry’s proactive approach to cleaning up emissions from diesel engines as well as the latest technology and funds available in Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Act (CMAQ).

Joining Pudlewski were Bob Bushnell of the Emissions Control Technology Association, Eli Hopson from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Nancy Kruger, the deputy director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, the umbrella organization for the nation’s air quality management regions. The group discussed the background of the school bus industries’ proactive approach to clean up emissions from diesel engines as well as the latest technology and funds available in the DERA.
While the turnout on the House side was decent with nearly a dozen congressional aides in attendance, considering it, too, was a first-of-its kind event, the Senate portion was cancelled due to a lack of turnout.

“They, being the Diesel Technology Forum, wanted a target audience to be of representatives or staff members. They, of course, put a positive spin on it, as it was for the first time trying to educate the House and Senate on the benefits of diesel retrofits and how cost effective (the programs) can be,” Pudlewski said later. “Given the funding, we can do a lot to clean up the school bus environment for very few (relative) dollars.”

Those relative funds coming from DERA as well as CMAQ, a $1.7 billion chunk that covers everything from emissions to construction of more roads and bridges. The school bus sector is especially interested in using the money for emissions reduction programs, new bus purchases and a public education campaign to promote school bus ridership,

“The automotive industry has 20 years on the trucking industry in terms of emission standards,” Pudlewski added. “The hope is that the word starts to spread around. We can’t give up. We don’t want to surrender and say, ‘They don’t care.’ We have to stay in there face.”

On May 9, Terry Thomas, owner of Community Bus in Ohio and the chair of NSTA’s Government Affairs Committe, testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on the impacts of rising fuel prices on school bus operations and to ask for federal assistance in securing CMAQ funds, federal subsidies for fuel prices, energy and investment tax credits for manufacturing and purchasing alternate fuel school buses, and funding mandates to meet safety, environmental and security standards.

In addition to environmental concerns, safety and security were key topics.
Meeting with David Weinreich, an aide to Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC) briefed the contractors on work before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Language was recently inserted into the House version of the approved transportation security bill for a complete threat assessment for school buses. It is comprehensive but stops short of forcing Homeland Security to act.

“But we think it’s a positive first step to what the school bus sector needs,” Weinreich said.

He added Rep. Etheridge is putting pressure on the FBI to clarify a memo it released in March on possible terrorists attempting to purchase school buses.
The bill was in the Senate.

In the Senate, representatives from NHTSA presented a school bus safety overview. Derek Graham, president of NASDPTS and the North Carolina state director of pupil transportation, asked NHTSA’s Brian McLaughlin if there was any news to report on enforcement cameras for school bus stop arms.

“This is a huge public policy issue,” McLaughlin responded.

Regarding seat belts, he said they are a major topic of interest for NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason. McLaughlin indicated further developments would surface over the summer.

Back on the House side, the contractors met with Sterling Marchand and Adam Paulson, aides to Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. Becky Weber, an industry lobbyist with the firm BKS&H Associates in Washington, asked Marchand and Paulson to also ask the FBI for detailed information on its terrorism bulletin. Weber said NSTA received about 200 phone calls from national media outlets following the FBI statement, but without more information NSTA, was unable to shed any light on the issue.

NSTA’s Leeds also asked Marchand and Paulson to talk to Rep. King about national school bus driver background checks. She said she had worked on the Department of Defense Critical Infrastructure Plan (CIP), which was drafted in 2005 in response to a directive by President Bush and superseded an original plan created in 1998. Leeds said only school bus training is addressed in the plan, and she earlier noted before Weinreich that the industry has been self-policing itself in this area for years, as at least half of the states require fingerprints. She specifically asked Marchand and Paulson if there was any hope of tying school bus driver background checks into either the Naval Criminal Investigative Service database or the national gun dealers database. The answer: congressional hearings would need to take place to discuss associated fees and what federal government department would be responsible for administering the program. Earlier, Weinreich said any solution would not be specialized for the school bus industry.

There was also some discussion about federal funding to promote increased school bus ridership.