II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3756 

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

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27 (legislative day, JULY 26), 2006 

Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

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 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) although air pollution is a health hazard for 

9 people of all ages, children are potentially more vul10 nerable because the lungs of children are still develVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:53 Jul 29, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3756.IS S3756

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1 oping and children breathe 50 percent more air per 

2 pound of body weight than adults; 

3 (2) diesel exhaust is considered to be a probable 

4 human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection 

5 Agency and the World Health Organization and con6 tains a high concentration of fine particles and 40 

7 compounds that are listed as hazardous air pollut8 ants by the California Environmental Protection 

9 Agency; 

10 (3) fine particles from diesel exhaust have been 

11 implicated as a potential cause of heart disease, res12 piratory disease, and stroke; 

13 (4) diesel exhaust aggravates asthma, a disease 

14 that affects approximately 4,500,000 American chil15 dren in kindergarten through twelfth grade; 

16 (5) nearly 24,000,000 children in the United 

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

18 day in a school bus; 

19 (6) because of the protection school buses pro20 vide in the event of a crash, school buses are the 

21 safest way for children to travel to school; 

22 (7) the Clean School Bus USA program of the 

23 Environmental Protection Agency, designed to help 

24 school districts replace aging bus fleets or install 

25 pollution control equipment, received proposals reVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:53 Jul 29, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3756.IS S3756

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1 questing approximately $60,000,000 in grants, but 

2 could only award $10,000,000 in grants; 

3 (8) recent studies have indicated that the con4 centration of diesel exhaust inside a school bus can 

5 be considerably higher than in the ambient environ6 ment, and that some, if not most, of that pollution 

7 may be coming from the bus itself; and 

8 (9) although activities designed to curtail emis9 sions from the tailpipe of school buses appear to 

10 have a positive effect on the air quality inside the 

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

12 cabin or what the best strategies are for combating 

13 the pollution. 

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

15 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

16 enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environ17 mental Protection Agency shall— 

18 (1) conduct a study on air quality inside school 

19 buses; and 

20 (2) submit to Congress a report on the results 

21 of the study. 

22 (b) STRATEGIES.—The Administrator shall— 

23 (1) develop strategies for improving air quality 

24 inside school buses; 


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1 (2) conduct or support research to evaluate the 

2 effectiveness of the strategies; and 

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

4 enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 

5 describing the strategies and the results of the re6 search. 

7 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 $750,000. 

10 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION FOR CLEAN 

11 SCHOOL BUS ACTIVITIES. 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Admin13 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry 

14 out activities (including expansion of the Clean School Bus 

15 USA program) to reduce the quantity of air pollution 

16 emitted by school buses and to improve the air quality in17 side of school buses $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and 

18 each subsequent fiscal year. 

19 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 It is the sense of Congress that local educational 

21 agencies and schools should— 

22 (1) assign less-polluting buses to the longest 

23 school bus routes; and 


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1 (2) adopt and implement policies to decrease 

2 school bus idling. 

Æ 


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