HOUSE BILL 257

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2021

INTRODUCED BY

Willie D. Madrid and Rebecca Dow

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO ROADS; REQUIRING SCHOOL BUS ROUTE IMPROVEMENTS; PROVIDING A PROCESS FOR IDENTIFYING AND RANKING SCHOOL BUS ROUTES IN NEED OF IMPROVEMENT; REQUIRING THE USE OF RECLAIMED AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PAVING MATERIALS; ENCOURAGING RIGHT-OF-WAY INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS DURING SCHOOL BUS ROUTE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of Chapter 67 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SCHOOL BUS ROUTES--ANNUAL SURVEYS--PAVING--TRENCHING FOR BROADBAND.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "coordinator" means the school bus route improvement coordinator;

                (2) "full-depth reclamation" means an in-place recycling method used for rehabilitating existing damaged roadways, primarily through mixing the existing roadway with a binder using a machine known as a reclaimer;

                (3) "right-of-way infrastructure" means broadband and other telecommunications, utility and other transmission lines that can co-locate in right-of-way trenches; and

                (4) "survey" means the annual school bus route adequacy and safety survey.

          B. The department shall designate a "school bus route improvement coordinator" to work with counties and public schools to ensure that school bus routes are paved and safe for transporting students. The department shall promulgate rules on ranking criteria and adequacy and safety standards for school bus routes.

          C. The coordinator shall develop a survey that will be used to assess and rank school bus routes in need of improvement. Local superintendents shall require that all school bus drivers complete and return the survey to the local superintendent. The local superintendent shall return the completed surveys to the coordinator by September 1 of each year.

          D. The department shall rank every school bus route in the state according to factors established by rule to indicate adequacy and safety and provide those rankings to school districts and counties.

          E. Subject to availability of funding, at least twenty percent of school bus routes with the lowest rankings shall be paved and improved each year to the department's adequacy and safety standards. The state shall pave and improve school bus routes on state highways, and counties shall pave and improve school bus routes on county roads.

          F. School bus route improvements shall be accomplished in the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly, sustainable and worker-safe manner possible. Unless otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, school bus routes shall be paved using reclaimed asphalt pavement or full-depth reclamation. Paving and asphaltic binders shall meet department material specifications. The department shall give or charge a county only a nominal fee for reclaimed asphalt pavement that the department has stockpiled.

          G. Before starting a paving or other school bus route improvement project, the state or the county shall notify and encourage service providers that use underground transmission lines to improve their right-of-way infrastructure along the school bus route."

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