I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3253 

To study and improve the air quality inside school buses, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 12, 2005 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. OWENS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. STARK, and Mr. 

LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To study and improve the air quality inside school buses, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy School Bus 

5 Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 
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1 (1) Although air pollution is a health hazard for 

2 people of all ages, children are potentially more vul3 nerable because their lungs are still developing and 

4 they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body 

5 weight than adults. 

6 (2) Diesel exhaust is considered to be a prob7 able human carcinogen by the Environmental Pro8 tection Agency and the World Health Organization 

9 and contains a high concentration of fine particles 

10 and 40 compounds that are listed as hazardous air 

11 pollutants by the California Environmental Protec12 tion Agency. 

13 (3) Fine particles from diesel exhaust have been 

14 implicated as a potential cause of heart disease, res15 piratory disease, and stroke. 

16 (4) Diesel exhaust aggravates asthma, a disease 

17 that affects approximately 4.5 million American chil18 dren in kindergarten through twelfth grade. 

19 (5) Nearly 24 million children in the United 

20 States spend an average of an hour and a half each 

21 day in a school bus. 

22 (6) Because of the protection school buses pro23 vide in the event of a crash, they are the safest way 

24 for children to travel to school. 
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1 (7) The Environmental Protection Agency’s 

2 Clean School Bus USA program, designed to help 

3 school districts replace aging bus fleets or install 

4 pollution control equipment, received nearly $60 mil5 lion in proposals, but could only award $10 million 

6 in grants. 

7 (8) Recent studies have indicated that the con8 centration of diesel exhaust inside a school bus can 

9 be considerably higher than in the ambient environ10 ment, and that some, if not most, of that pollution 

11 may be coming from the bus itself. 

12 (9) Although activities designed to curtail emis13 sions from the tailpipes of school buses appear to 

14 have a positive effect on the air quality inside the 

15 bus cabin, it is not clear how pollution enters the 

16 cabin or what the best strategies are for combating 

17 such pollution. 

18 SEC. 3. STUDY OF AIR QUALITY INSIDE SCHOOL BUSES. 

19 (a) STUDY.—The Administrator of the Environ20 mental Protection Agency shall— 

21 (1) conduct a study on the air quality inside 

22 school buses; and 

23 (2) not later than 12 months after the date of 

24 the enactment of this Act, submit a report to the 

25 Congress on the results of such study. 
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1 (b) STRATEGIES.—The Administrator of the Envi2 ronmental Protection Agency shall— 

3 (1) develop strategies for improving the air 

4 quality inside school buses; 

5 (2) conduct or support research to evaluate the 

6 effectiveness of such strategies; and 

7 (3) not later than 15 months after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act, submit a report to the 

9 Congress describing such strategies and the results 

10 of such research. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated $750,000 to carry out this 

13 section. 

14 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR CLEAN SCHOOL BUS 

15 USA PROGRAM. 

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Admin17 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

18 $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fis19 cal year to carry out activities, including expansion of the 

20 Clean School Bus USA program, to reduce the amount 

21 of air pollution emitted by school buses and to improve 

22 the air quality inside of school buses. 

23 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

24 It is the sense of the Congress that local educational 

25 agencies and schools— 
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1 (1) should assign less polluting buses to the 

2 longest school bus routes; and 

3 (2) should adopt and implement policies to de4 crease school bus idling. 

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