SECURES Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1818 To require the Secretary of Transportation to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning seat belts on school buses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning seat belts on school buses, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Every Child 4 Under the Right Equipment Standards Act of 2019’’ or 5 the ‘‘SECURES Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. PROPOSED RULEMAKING. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1818.IS S1818 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1818 IS tation shall publish a notice of proposed rulemaking on 1 new Federal standards for school bus seat belt require- 2 ments on all school buses, regardless of gross vehicle 3 weight rating. 4 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In the proposed rulemaking 5 under subsection (a), the Secretary of Transportation 6 shall consider— 7 (1) the safety benefits of lap/shoulder belt sys- 8 tem (also known as a ‘‘Type 2 seat belt assembly’’); 9 (2) the conclusions of the National Transpor- 10 tation Safety Board that— 11 (A) ‘‘lap/shoulder belts provide the highest 12 level of protection for school bus passengers’’; 13 and 14 (B) ‘‘properly worn lap belts provide some 15 benefit’’ while ‘‘properly worn lap/shoulder belts 16 provide greater benefit by reducing injuries re- 17 lated to upper body flailing’’; 18 (3) the 2015 announcement by the Adminis- 19 trator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad- 20 ministration, Mark Rosekind, stating that the agen- 21 cy believes that ‘‘every child on every school bus 22 should have a three-point seat belt’’; 23 (4) any innovative approaches to seat belt de- 24 tection, seat belt reminder systems, and seat belt 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1818.IS S1818 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1818 IS violation alert systems that could be incorporated 1 into school bus designs; and 2 (5) existing experience from States that have 3 already required school buses to be equipped with 4 seat belts. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1818.IS S1818 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS