S. 828 — School Bus Safety Act of 2025

This section defines key terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) "3-point safety belt," meaning a Type 2 seat belt assembly under 49 CFR 571.209 (as in effect on enactment); (2) "automatic emergency braking system," meaning a crash avoidance system with forward collision warning and crash-imminent braking functions; (3) "event data recorder," as defined in 49 CFR 563.5(b) (as in effect on enactment); (4) "school bus," as defined in 49 U.S.C. 30125(a); and (5) "Secretary," meaning the Secretary of Transportation.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation, not later than one year after enactment, to issue final rules prescribing or amending motor vehicle safety standards (49 U.S.C. ch. 301) requiring (1) school buses with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds to have three-point safety belts at each designated seating position; (2) school buses to have fire suppression systems addressing engine fires and firewalls preventing hazardous gas or flame passage from the engine to passenger compartment; and (3) school buses to have automatic emergency braking systems, event data recorders, and electronic stability control systems. Those standards apply to school buses manufactured in or imported into the United States one year after issuance (for seat belts and other equipment) or on or after the effective date (for fire suppression and firewalls). This section further directs the Secretary, within one year of enactment, to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 302 (49 C.F.R. § 571.302) to require school bus interiors to meet flammability and smoke emission standards at least as rigorous as those for transport-category airplane crew/passenger compartments (14 C.F.R. § 25.853), passenger cars, or locomotive cabs (49 C.F.R. § 238.103). This section also directs the Secretary to amend commercial driver's license regulations (49 C.F.R. pt. 383) to require at least eight hours of behind-the-wheel instruction on public roads with a qualified instructor for school bus operators and directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Federal Railroad Administration to finalize rules evaluating safety-sensitive personnel for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (from a 2016 advance notice of proposed rulemaking).

This section directs the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to complete two studies on school bus safety features not later than two years after enactment of this Act. (1) A study on the benefits of requiring school buses manufactured in, or imported into, the United States to be equipped with motion-activated detection systems capable of detecting pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users near the bus exterior and alerting the operator, with final regulations to require such systems issued not later than one year after study completion. (2) A study on the benefits of requiring school buses to be equipped with systems to alert the operator if a passenger is not wearing a three-point safety belt.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish, not later than one year after enactment, a grant program under which states receive grants to subgrant to local educational agencies for (1) purchasing school buses equipped with three-point safety belts at each designated seating position or any other school bus safety feature described in §§3 or 4; and (2) modifying existing school buses owned by such agencies to include those features. The section authorizes appropriations of such sums as are necessary to carry out the program.