SENATE MEMORIAL 56

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Pete Campos

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE, THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS AND FINANCE COMMITTEE AND THE LEGISLATURE TO GIVE CAREFUL CONSIDERATION TO THE SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION APPROPRIATION AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROPOSED CHANGE IN THE SCHOOL BUS REPLACEMENT SCHEDULE.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has the number one school bus safety record in the nation, primarily due to its transportation formula; and

     WHEREAS, a typical school bus holds seventy-one students from kindergarten through high school; and

     WHEREAS, there are approximately two thousand school buses in New Mexico, and they make at least two round trips a day during the school year and are also used for extracurricular activities; and

     WHEREAS, last year, these school buses traveled a combined thirty-one million two hundred fifty-six thousand miles; and

     WHEREAS, the safety and well-being of their student-passengers is the number one priority of school districts and school bus contractors; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed change in the school bus replacement schedule from twelve to fifteen years is fraught with potentially expensive, and even life-threatening, consequences; and

     WHEREAS, particularly in rural areas, school buses travel significant distances one way, often over badly maintained roads, in every type of weather condition, and some of those buses, even with excellent maintenance, are worn out both inside and out before twelve years; and

     WHEREAS, the last three years of a school bus's life are the most expensive, with engines and rear axles having to be replaced, in addition to brake replacements and regular maintenance; and

     WHEREAS, school bus operators urge the legislature and its finance committees to study the pros and cons of changing the school bus replacement schedule from twelve to fifteen years, given the hard use many school buses are put to in rural areas, which make up most of the state;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the senate finance committee, the house appropriations and finance committee and the legislature be requested to consider carefully the importance of school bus safety and to respond to the urging of school bus operators by requesting the interim legislative education study committee to undertake a study of school bus use and routes in New Mexico and the fiscal downside to extending school bus life; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be presented to the chairs of the senate finance committee and the house appropriations and finance committee as they deliberate on the General Appropriation Act of 2017.

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