Favors' school bus seat belt bill clears another Tennessee House panel

A wrecker removes the bus from the scene at Talley Road in Chattanooga on Nov. 22, 2016, the day after the fatal Woodmore Elementary School bus crash.
A wrecker removes the bus from the scene at Talley Road in Chattanooga on Nov. 22, 2016, the day after the fatal Woodmore Elementary School bus crash.

NASHVILLE - A bill requiring new Tennessee school buses come equipped with safety restraint systems beginning in mid-2019 moved out of the House Education & Administration Committee today.

"I'm really excited about it," said Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, following the voice vote. "I think with the plethora of evidence that supports restraint systems in school buses, I think everybody has seen that now and they know that you want to optimize [safety on] fatalities."

Favors brought the legislation in the wake of the deadly Nov. 21 Hamilton County School bus crash that took the lives of six Woodmore Elementary School children and injured other students.

Several committee members continued to question the need for bus safety restraint systems, arguing current bus seat construction provides adequate protections.

Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, said that for her the issue isn't additional costs to school systems but other issues like whether very young children will be able to release themselves in the event of a crash or bus fire.

As amended, the bill would require all new public and private school buses ordered or purchased as of July 1, 2019, come equipped with seat belts as recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The bill still has several hurdles with the next stop for the legislation being the Government Operations Committee. That came as a surprise to Favors, who thought the bill would next go on to the Budget Subcommittee of the Finance .Committee.

But Favors said given the importance of the issue, she can see why legislative leaders want more scrutiny.

Following the vote, Ashley Jones, whose niece Cor'Dayja Jones was killed in the Talley Road crash, said she felt "so much negativity" among committee critics on the bill. "I don't understand. It doesn't make any sense. These babies need seat belts on school buses."

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