COLUMBUS/CLARK COUNTY — A new bill in Ohio aims to keep children safer on their way to and from school and is one step closer to becoming law in the state.
News Center 7’s Jon Bedell has been following this plan for months. He explains how this bill is intended to protect children in the Miami Valley and throughout Ohio.
“The kids’ safety should be the number one priority. If you see a yellow school bus, act right,” said Tina Combs of Dayton.
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House Bill 3, the School Bus Safety Act, passed 88-0 on Wednesday at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.
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The School Bus Safety Act took a big step Wednesday at the Ohio Statehouse. The bill passed the Ohio House. Republican State Rep. Bernie Willis from Clark County is the bill’s sponsor.
“It is an absolute thing that will help ensure that we have more safety around our children in a place that they need it,” Will said.
Democratic State Rep. Cecil Thomas, of Cincinnati, is a joint sponsor.
“Every day, thousands of students in Ohio ride school buses, and too many are put at risk by drivers who illegally pass stopped buses,” Thomas said.
The bill would set aside $10 million to fund a needs-based grant program.
Districts could apply for grants as they see fit and use the money to pay for school bus safety features. Things such as on-board cameras to help catch drivers who illegally pass school buses while they are loading or unloading children.
“Don’t be Irresponsible because someone’s child is on that bus,” Combs said.
The legislation would also create stiffer criminal penalties for drivers who illegally pass those stopped for school buses. Bedell talked to parents and grandparents around the Miami Valley about this plan for months.
This week’s vote to pass the Ohio House is the farthest along it’s ever gotten.
The bill was introduced after a deadly school bus crash in Clark County that killed one student, Aiden Clark, and injured dozens of others in 2023.
It now heads to the Ohio Senate.
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