School bus seat belt bill heads to panel,

NASHVILLE — Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, says she’s feeling more optimistic about the prospects of her legislation requiring seat belts on school buses as it goes before the House Education Planning and Administration Committee today.

“I feel comfortable about the committee,” Favors said Tuesday of her bill, which was

delayed in the panel after most of the time was consumed by debates on two unrelated measures. “I think we will have the vote, but you never know.”

A number of Chattanoogans had trekked to the state Capitol in Nashville yet again to support the legislation, which Favors and Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, introduced after the Nov. 21 crash of a school bus in Brainerd that killed six Woodmore Elementary School students.

Favors said some members of Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration on Monday told her “they are remaining neutral” on the bill.

“Really, I felt encouraged after I talked with them,” said Favors, whose original bill was “flagged” by the administration over its high costs over a six-year period.

Since then, the Chattanooga lawmaker has worked to slash cost projections outlined by legislative Fiscal Review Committee staff in their fiscal note.

For starters, Favors dropped original language from the bill that required all Tennessee public and private school buses to be equipped with safetyrestraint systems approved by the National Transportation Safety Board by July 1, 2023.

It now simply says any school bus ordered or purchased after July 1, 2019, should come with the NTSB-recommended restraint systems. That cut the projected cost by 80 percent, Favors said.

If approved today by the House education panel, the bill would then go to the House Budget Subcommittee before it could go to the full Finance Committee and then to the Calendar and Rules Committee, the last stopping place before bills hit the House floor.

Favors noted the Budget Subcommittee full Finance Committee’s role is to “scrutinize the budget and make sure that it’s feasible. But I’m hoping they will look at what we’ve been able to accomplish with Fiscal Review and reducing the fiscal note by 80 percent. I’m hoping that will be considered.”

Gardenhire’s companion bill is in the Senate Finance Committee.

The six Woodmore children died after their bus, driven by Johnthony Walker, 24, veered out of control on Nov. 21 on Talley Road in Brainerd and overturned. Walker has been indicted on six counts of vehicular homicide and reckless driving.