Requires school districts to continue to make payments of benefits, compensation and emoluments pursuant to the terms of any contract for transportation of school children that were in effect as of the date of any school closure which is due to a declared emergency as if the services had been provided.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4956
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, HARCKHAM, KENNEDY, SKOUFIS -- read twice
and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to payment under
contracts for transportation services during a declared state of emer-
gency
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph h to read as follows:
3 h. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, if a
4 school district is closed due to a properly executed declaration of a
5 state or local emergency pursuant to article two-B of the executive law,
6 such district shall continue to make payments of benefits, compensation
7 and emoluments pursuant to the terms of any contract for transportation
8 of school children entered into pursuant to this subdivision that were
9 in effect on the date of the closure as if the services for such bene-
10 fits, compensation, and emoluments had been provided, and as if the
11 school district had remained open. Payments received pursuant to this
12 paragraph by a contractor providing pupil transportation services shall
13 be used to meet payroll and fixed cost obligations of the contractor. A
14 school district shall make all reasonable efforts to renegotiate a
15 contract in good faith subject to this paragraph and may direct contrac-
16 tors providing pupil transportation services who are a party to a
17 contract and receive payments from the school district under this para-
18 graph, to provide services on behalf of the school district which may
19 reasonably be provided and are within the general expertise or service
20 provisions of the original contract. Negotiations shall not include
21 indirect costs such as fuel or tolls. As a condition of negotiations, a
22 contractor for pupil transportation services shall reveal to the school
23 district whether the entity has insurance coverage for the payment of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07392-01-3
S. 4956 2
1 benefits, compensation, and emoluments pursuant to the terms of a
2 contract with a contractor for pupil transportation services under this
3 paragraph for services which otherwise would not have been provided had
4 the school facilities remained open. A contractor shall divulge to its
5 school district customers all government and private subsidies and
6 programs which it is utilizing during the state of emergency to maintain
7 financial solvency including, but not limited to government grants and
8 loans, and unemployment insurance for its labor force. Nothing in this
9 paragraph shall be construed to require a school district to make
10 payments to a party in material breach of a contract with a contractor
11 for pupil transportation services if the breach was not due to a closure
12 resulting from a declared state of emergency, declared public health
13 emergency, or a directive by an appropriate health agency or officer.
14 § 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, if a school
15 district continues to pay a school bus transportation contractor or
16 operates its own school bus transportation, such district shall be
17 eligible for reimbursement from the department of education at a rate
18 the school district would have received had the pandemic of 2020 not
19 occurred, had the minimum instruction days requirement not been waived
20 under executive order 202.4 or had the commissioner not taken action
21 under subdivision 7 of section 3604 of the education law.
22 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to any
23 contracts or collective bargaining agreements in effect beginning with
24 the 2019-2020 academic year.
