| 1 | 1 | | 87R10317 TBO-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Harris H.C.R. No. 48 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, Each day, more than 26 million students rely on |
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| 7 | 7 | | school buses for safe transportation, and many school districts |
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| 8 | 8 | | have experienced difficulty in keeping up with this demand due to |
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| 9 | 9 | | federal licensing requirements that have exacerbated the shortage |
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| 10 | 10 | | of school bus drivers; and |
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| 11 | 11 | | WHEREAS, Part 383 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires |
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| 12 | 12 | | school bus drivers to obtain a Commercial Driver's License, but the |
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| 13 | 13 | | application process has included unnecessary obstacles to meeting |
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| 14 | 14 | | this obligation; for example, the testing and training portions of |
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| 15 | 15 | | the CDL application were previously handled by different |
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| 16 | 16 | | third-party skills examiners, which limited applicants' ability to |
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| 17 | 17 | | complete the exams if they did not have access to both a tester and a |
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| 18 | 18 | | trainer; a recent change to this rule helps states streamline the |
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| 19 | 19 | | process of obtaining a CDL by allowing the same examiner to both |
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| 20 | 20 | | test and train an applicant, revealing that with less federal |
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| 21 | 21 | | interference, states can license school bus drivers more |
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| 22 | 22 | | efficiently; and |
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| 23 | 23 | | WHEREAS, According to a survey conducted by School Bus Fleet |
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| 24 | 24 | | Magazine, most school districts have endured some degree of bus |
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| 25 | 25 | | driver shortage, and data from the National Association for Pupil |
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| 26 | 26 | | Transportation reveals that many school districts consider CDL |
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| 27 | 27 | | requirements to be a major factor in their ability to recruit and |
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| 28 | 28 | | retain bus drivers; one Texas school district has successfully |
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| 29 | 29 | | overcome its shortage, but only through costly training programs |
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| 30 | 30 | | that compensate new drivers as they complete the CDL application; |
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| 31 | 31 | | and |
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| 32 | 32 | | WHEREAS, School districts that provide valuable |
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| 33 | 33 | | transportation services are burdened by a flawed federal system |
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| 34 | 34 | | with inefficient licensing requirements, and Congress should solve |
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| 35 | 35 | | this problem by allowing states to establish regulations according |
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| 36 | 36 | | to their own needs; now, therefore, be it |
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| 37 | 37 | | RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 38 | 38 | | hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to pass |
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| 39 | 39 | | legislation that would grant licensing authority for public school |
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| 40 | 40 | | bus drivers to the states; and, be it further |
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| 41 | 41 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 42 | 42 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 43 | 43 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 44 | 44 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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| 45 | 45 | | members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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| 46 | 46 | | this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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| 47 | 47 | | memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
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