HF 499 (LSB 1775HV (5) 88)

ALLOWING CERTAIN VANS AND PICKUPS TO BE USED TO  TRANSPORT PUPILS TO ACTIVITY EVENTS OR FROM SCHOOL TO HOME  IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 321.1, subsection 69, paragraph d, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   d.  Designed New or used motor vehicles designed to carry not more than nine ten persons as passengers, including the driver, or used passenger vans designed to carry not more than twelve persons as passengers, including the driver, either school owned or privately owned, which are used to transport pupils to activity events in which the pupils are participants or used to transport pupils to their homes in case of illness or other emergency situations. The vehicles operated under the provisions of this paragraph shall be operated by employees of the school district who are specifically approved by the local superintendent of schools for the assignment.
    Sec. 2.  Section 321.373, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  a.  The rules prescribed for school buses shall include special rules for passenger automobiles, and other vehicles designed to carry eight ten or fewer pupils persons, including the driver, when used as school buses.
   b.  The rules shall allow pickups designed to carry nine passengers or less, including the driver, and weighing ten thousand pounds or less, to be used as school buses if the pickup does not carry more passengers than there are safety belts or safety harnesses in the pickup as installed by the manufacturer and if the pickup is not operated while any passenger is present in the bed of the pickup. The operator of the pickup shall comply with the qualification, licensing, and instruction requirements set forth in sections 321.375 and 321.376, other than the requirement to obtain a commercial driver’s license. However, the rules shall allow the board of directors of a school district to prohibit the use of pickups as school buses by the school district.
   c.  The rules shall allow used passenger vans designed to carry twelve or fewer passengers, including the driver, and weighing ten thousand pounds or less, to be used as school buses if the van does not carry more passengers than there are safety belts or safety harnesses in the van as installed by the manufacturer. The operator of the van shall comply with the qualification, licensing, and instruction requirements set forth in sections 321.375 and 321.376.
   d.  A pickup or passenger van operated pursuant to rules described in paragraph “b” or “c” is subject to the limitations set forth in section 321.1, subsection 69, paragraph “d”.

______________________________
LINDA UPMEYER
Speaker of the House

______________________________
CHARLES SCHNEIDER
President of the Senate

   I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and is known as House File 499, Eighty-eighth General Assembly.

______________________________
CARMINE BOAL
Chief Clerk of the House

Approved _______________, 2019

______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor