AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would mandate seat belts on all school buses. Currently, seat belts are required on new buses but not old ones, following a law passed in 2017.
On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Committee considered Senate Bill 546. It would require three-point seat belts on all school buses, regardless of age.
The bill’s consideration comes one year after a concrete pumper truck hit a Hays CISD school bus in Bastrop County, killing 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya and injuring dozens of other children. The bus did not have seat belts.
Ryan Wallace, who was driving a vehicle behind the bus, also died in that crash.
Originally, the bill by State Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) would have allowed poorer school districts to use two-point seat belts on their buses because they’re cheaper. But they’re not as effective, so Menéndez changed the bill.
“It strikes the 2-point seat belts as an alternative to the 3-point because it has been proven that 3-point is the safest way to do this,” Menéndez said. “And for school districts who are unable to adopt the 3-point seat belt because the 3-point seat belt can’t be retrofitted and you’d have to pull the seats out and put new seats in, it’s much too expensive. The school districts must submit a plan of action for compliance with the timeline for implementation.”
Lawmakers left SB 546 pending in committee.
How many Central Texas school buses have seat belts?
In a report last fall, the KVUE Defenders found that Texas is one of only nine states with a law requiring seat belts on school buses. Most laws are similar to the Lone Star State’s, requiring seat belts on all newly purchased buses after a certain date.
Analysis of data from 13 Central Texas school districts found only four have fully outfitted their buses with seat belts: Austin, Eanes, Lake Travis and Pflugerville ISDs. Four other districts – Bastrop, Georgetown, Manor and Round Rock ISDs – have seatbelts on at least 75% of their buses, and Bastrop has since vowed to equip its entire bus fleet with seat belts by the next school year.
At the time of the Defenders’ report, Leander, Hutto, Del Valle and Hays Consolidated ISDs had seat belts on at least 50% of their bus fleets. In Dripping Springs ISD, only 39% of buses had seat belts.