STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT D. CLIFTON
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Chiaravalloti
SYNOPSIS
Requires omnibus drivers to inspect bus at end of route for passengers with disabilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning omnibus drivers and supplementing Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. At the end of a transportation route, the driver assigned to an omnibus shall visually inspect the omnibus to determine that no person with a disability has been left on the omnibus.
2. In the event that, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, an omnibus driver is found to have left a person with a disability on the omnibus at the end of the driver’s route, the driver’s commercial motor vehicle driving privilege shall be:
a. suspended for one month, for a first offense;
b. suspended for six months, for a second offense; or
c. permanently revoked, for a third offense.
3. In the event that a person with a disability, who was left on an omnibus by a driver at the end of the route, is harmed as a result of foreseeable danger and the driver is found, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, to have acted with gross negligence, the omnibus driver’s commercial motor vehicle driving privilege shall be permanently revoked.
4. a. In the case of a person holding or required to hold a commercial driver license, the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall include in the commission’s records any information related to a driver leaving a person with a disability on an omnibus in violation of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. Any omnibus driver whose commercial motor vehicle driving privilege has been suspended or revoked pursuant to section 2 or section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall have information about the suspension or revocation included on the driver’s driving record information filed with the Commercial Driver License Information System.
5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires an omnibus (bus) driver to visually inspect the bus at the end of his or her transportation route to determine that no person with a disability has been left on the bus.
In the event that, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, a bus driver is found to have left a person with a disability on the bus at the end of the route, the driver’s commercial motor vehicle driving privilege is to be:
• suspended for one month, for a first offense;
• suspended for six months, for a second offense; or
• permanently revoked, for a third offense.
The bus driver’s commercial motor vehicle driving privilege is to be permanently revoked if the driver is found to have acted with gross negligence and a person with a disability who was left on a bus at the end of the route was harmed as a result of foreseeable danger.
Additionally, the bill requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to include in its records for persons holding or required to hold a commercial driver license (CDL) any information related to a driver leaving a person with a disability on a bus. If a bus driver’s commercial motor vehicle driving privilege is suspended or revoked pursuant to the provisions of the bill, information about the suspension or revocation is to be included on his or her driving record information filed by the MVC with the Commercial Driver License Information System (CDLIS). The federal CDLIS provides states an opportunity to exchange information about CDL drivers, convictions, and disqualifications, including information about license suspensions and revocations.