NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9650
SPONSOR: O'Donnell TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the
transportation of school children
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill protects school bus workers' wages and benefits during transi-
tions between employers in cities with populations above 1 million. It
additionally prioritizes the hiring of experienced school bus drivers to
ensure high safety standards for students.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the
education law.
Subsection 1 is amended to define the section as the first of multiple
subsections, whereas previously it had constituted the complete text of
this section of law.
Subsection 2(i) specifies that when boards of education and contracted
companies engage in contracts relating to the transportation of school
children, such agreements shall include hiring and retention provisions
relating to wage and benefits preservation.
Subsection 2(ii) defines a 'school bus worker.'
Subsection 2(iii) mandates the creation of a 'master tenure list' of
operators, mechanics, and dispatchers who were laid off, but employed as
of the last day of the immediately preceding school year. It specifies
that individuals shall remain on this list and retain the right to
select available work, and that companies and subcontractors shall hire
from this list until the list is exhausted. Workers hired from the list
will go to the bottom of seniority at their new place of work, but main-
tain their rate of pay from their previous employers, and be eligible
for future pay increases.
Subsection 2(iv) requires that retirement benefits protection for the
worker shall apply regardless of the type of plan, and that the company
shall contribute to the plan as appropriate with no diminishment to the
worker's benefits.
Section 2 states that this act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill addresses the longstanding issue of precarious employment
conditions faced by school bus workers in large urban areas where
contracts are frequently reassigned.
School bus workers' wages, benefits, and job opportunities are currently
subject to the discretion of contracted companies. When boards of educa-
tion switch contracted companies, the authority to determine wages and
hire workers rests solely with the company. This dynamic fosters a race
to the bottom, as companies vie to offer the lowest wages and fewest
benefits possible.
This bill would rectify the destabilizing effects of the removal of the
Employee Protection Provision (EPP) from NYC DOE contracts with school
bus workers in 2013. The abrupt loss of job security and subsequent
erosion of wages and benefits have created a climate of uncertainty
among school bus workers. This instability not only impacts the workers'
livelihoods but also undermines the reliability and quality of transpor-
tation services essential for the function of education systems. This
has resulted in a severe labor shortage and has disproportionately
affected New York's most vulnerable students who rely heavily on school
buses for transportation.
The provisions outlined in this bill prioritize the retention and hiring
of experienced bus drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, and attendants. This
not only safeguards the job security of existing workers and ensures
wage preservation, it also ensures that the city benefits from the expe-
rience and expertise of its school bus workforce.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9650
IN ASSEMBLY
March 27, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the
transportation of school children
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the educa-
2 tion law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 a. (1) All contracts for the transportation of school children, all
5 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district
6 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts
7 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain
8 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service
9 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner,
10 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in [his] such commissioner's
11 opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby.
12 Except as provided in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such
13 contracts involving an annual expenditure in excess of the amount speci-
14 fied for purchase contracts in the bidding requirements of the general
15 municipal law shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which
16 responsibility shall be determined by the board of education or the
17 trustee of a district, with power hereby vested in the commissioner to
18 reject any or all bids if, in [his] such commissioner's opinion, the
19 best interests of the district will be promoted thereby and, upon such
20 rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall order the board of educa-
21 tion or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider new
22 proposals. All proposals for such transportation, maintenance, mobile
23 instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service shall be in
24 such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement for bids
25 shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by the board
26 of education or trustee of the district having general circulation with-
27 in the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall contain a
28 statement of the time when and place where all bids received pursuant to
29 such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either by the school
30 authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. All bids
31 received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and place so
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14753-02-4
A. 9650 2
1 specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first publication
2 of such advertisement and the date so specified for the opening and
3 reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding shall not apply
4 to an award of a contract for the transportation of pupils or a contract
5 for mobile instructional units, if such award is based on an evaluation
6 of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to para-
7 graph e of this subdivision. The requirement for competitive bidding
8 shall not apply to annual, biennial, or triennial extensions of a
9 contract nor shall the requirement for competitive bidding apply to
10 quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a contract involving
11 transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses or mobile instruc-
12 tional units secured either through competitive bidding or through eval-
13 uation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to
14 paragraph e of this subdivision, when such extensions [(1)] (i) are made
15 by the board of education or the trustee of a district, under rules and
16 regulations prescribed by the commissioner, and, [(2)] (ii) do not
17 extend the original contract period beyond five years from the date
18 cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and in the case of
19 contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the maintenance of
20 school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such contracts may
21 be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the commissioner, in
22 addition to [his] such commissioner's existing statutory authority to
23 approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, [(i)] (A)
24 to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if
25 [he] such commissioner finds that amount to be paid by the district to
26 the contractor in any year of such proposed extension fails to reflect
27 any decrease in the regional consumer price index for the N.Y.,
28 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum-
29 ers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve month period; and [(ii)] (B) to
30 reject any extension of a contract after ten years from the date trans-
31 portation or maintenance service commenced thereunder, or mobile
32 instructional units were first provided, if in [his] such commissioner's
33 opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby.
34 Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the commissioner may
35 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain
36 and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board
37 of education or the trustee of a school district electing to extend a
38 contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount
39 to be paid in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to
40 exceed the regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y.,
41 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum-
42 ers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month period, provided it has
43 been satisfactorily established by the contractor that there has been at
44 least an equivalent increase in the amount of [his] such contractor's
45 cost of operation, during the period of the contract.
46 (2) (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, the
47 board of education of a school district located in a city with at least
48 one million inhabitants shall include in contracts for the transporta-
49 tion of school children in kindergarten through grade twelve, whether
50 awarded through competitive bidding or through evaluation of proposals
51 in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this
52 subdivision, provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of
53 school bus workers and provisions for the preservation of wages, health,
54 welfare, and retirement benefits and industry tenure for school bus
55 workers who are hired pursuant to such provisions for retention or pref-
56 erence in hiring, in connection with such contracts.
A. 9650 3
1 (ii) For the purposes of this subparagraph, "school bus worker" shall
2 mean an operator, mechanic, dispatcher or attendant who is employed by:
3 (A) a contractor that was a party to a contract with the board of
4 education of a school district located in a city with at least one
5 million inhabitants for the transportation of school children in kinder-
6 garten through grade twelve, in connection with such contract; or
7 (B) a subcontractor of a contractor that was a party to a contract
8 with the board of education of a school district located in a city with
9 at least one million inhabitants for the transportation of school chil-
10 dren in kindergarten through grade twelve, in connection with such
11 contract.
12 (iii) When any school bus worker gets laid off from their current
13 employment, the board of education of a school district located in a
14 city with at least one million inhabitants shall create and maintain a
15 master tenure list of such laid off operators, mechanics, and dispatch-
16 ers that were employed as of the last day of the school year immediately
17 preceding the layoff and a master tenure list of such laid off attend-
18 ants that were employed as of the last day of the school year immediate-
19 ly preceding the layoff on which such workers shall be placed, as appro-
20 priate, in order of their tenure in the school bus industry. An employee
21 on any such list shall remain on the list until the employee has an
22 opportunity to select available work. The school district may allow
23 employees who pass once when it is their turn to select available work
24 to remain on the list. Tenure shall be calculated based on continuous
25 employment by any companies in the school bus industry under contract
26 with the board of education of a school district located in a city with
27 at least one million inhabitants or its subcontractors. Such companies
28 and their subcontractors shall give priority in hiring for new, addi-
29 tional, or replacement school bus workers to the individuals on the
30 master tenure list until such list is exhausted. The master tenure list
31 shall determine the order in which employees select available work in
32 the industry. However, upon hire from the master tenure list, the
33 employees shall go to the bottom of the seniority list of their new
34 employer. Employees who move from employer to employer on their own, and
35 have not followed the work, shall be deemed to have a break in service
36 and shall not have the protection of preservation of wages, health,
37 welfare, and retirement benefits and industry tenure. For an employee
38 hired from the master tenure list, if the employee has a current wage
39 rate that is higher than the wage rate for employees of the successor
40 company with similar industry tenure, the employee shall maintain at
41 least such wage rate and be eligible for future wage increases.
42 (iv) The retirement benefits protection for the school bus worker
43 shall apply whether the school bus worker participated in a defined
44 benefit pension plan or a defined contribution (401(k)) pension plan or
45 any other plan, such as a 457 pension plan, when employed by the school
46 bus worker's prior employer, and the successor company shall make
47 payments as appropriate to the plan, but with the guarantee that there
48 shall be no diminishment to the benefits to any school bus worker. Such
49 successor company shall make such payments on behalf of school bus work-
50 ers who participated in a defined benefit pension plan while employed by
51 the school bus worker's prior employer, as are required by such plan, so
52 the employee continues to earn credits toward a pension in such plan
53 while employed by such successor company.
54 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
