U.S. Representative John Carter, R-Round Rock, introduced H.R. 8041 this week at the Capitol.
Known as the Driving Forward Act, the bipartisan effort extends the current under-the-hood test exemption to get qualified individuals into the driver's seat to address the nationwide shortage of bus drivers, according to a news release from Mr. Carter’s office.
Original co-sponsors of the legislation include U.S. representatives from across the country, including North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx, Maryland Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger, Pennsylvania Republican Glenn Thompson, and Texas U.S. Reps Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Pete Sessions, R-Waco.
The National School Transportation Association supports the bill.
“Nearly half of all students rely on the school bus to get to school daily,” Mr. Carter said. “There are countless examples of how the nationwide bus driver shortage is shortchanging kids and leaving parents scrambling.
“Ensuring students can get to school is a burden for our schools, and we cannot hamstring them by placing unnecessary barriers to bus driver entry. The Driving Forward Act will ensure that the under-the-hood test exemption remains in place so qualified individuals can get in the driver's seat sooner and get our kids to school.”
The bill is set to extend the current exemption from the under-the-hood testing requirement for school bus driver CDL applicants for a total of five years. Executive Director of the National School Transportation Association Curt Macysyn said the exemption has already been adopted by 12 states.
“The National School Transportation Association strongly supports the ‘Driving Forward Act,’ ” he said in a statement. “[It] has proven instrumental in producing critical additional dedicated school bus drivers in those states, thus providing more children access to the safest form of transportation to and from school, the yellow school bus.”