Source: https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2020/hb1140/fulltext/
Timestamp: 2020-04-03 12:21:54
Document Index: 176518016

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 22', '§ 30125', '§ 5323', '§ 5323', '§ 5323', '§ 5323']

Richmond Sunlight » HB1140: Clean School Bus Grant Fund and Program; created and established.
HB1140: Clean School Bus Grant Fund and Program; created and established.
HB1140H1
HOUSE BILL NO. 1140 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the House Committee on Labor and Commerce on February 6, 2020) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Keam) A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-178.1, relating to the establishment of the Clean School Bus Grant Fund and Program.
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 22.1-178.1 as follows:
§ 22.1-178.1. Clean School Bus Grant Fund and Program.
"Electric school bus" means a school bus that is propelled by an electric motor that draws electricity from a battery and is capable of being recharged from an external source of electricity.
"Fund" means the Clean School Bus Grant Fund established in subsection B.
"Program" means the Clean School Bus Grant Program established pursuant to subsection C.
"School bus" has the meaning as the term "schoolbus" as provided in 49 U.S.C. § 30125.
"Scrap" means to crush, shred, or otherwise disassemble or make inoperable.
"Scrapping" does not include selling, leasing, exchanging, or otherwise disposing for use in another motor vehicle in any location.
B. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Clean School Bus Fund. The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All funds appropriated for such purpose and any gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund. Interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Fund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes of administering and providing grants on a competitive basis pursuant to the Clean School Bus Grant Program established pursuant to subsection C. Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon written request signed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
C. The Department shall, no later than July 1, 2020, establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program for the purpose of (i) awarding grants from the Fund on a competitive basis to school boards for (a) the difference in cost between diesel school buses and electric school buses with the goal of complete replacement of existing diesel school buses with electric school buses no later than 2030, (b) the implementation of recharging infrastructure or other infrastructure needed to charge or maintain such electric school buses, and (c) workforce development and training to support the maintenance, charging, and operations of such electric school buses and (ii) developing an education outreach program pursuant to subsection P.
D. To be eligible to receive a grant under the Program, a school board shall submit an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Department shall require, including:
1. Certification that no public work or service normally performed by a school board employee will be privatized or subcontracted in connection with the receipt or use of grant funds; and
2. To ensure a fair assessment of total workforce impact of the receipt and use of grant funds, a detailed accounting of the workforce of the school board at the time of application, including the number of employees organized by salary, full-time or part-time status, and job title.
3. Details on the cost difference between diesel and electric school buses, including the cost of charging such buses.
E. The Department shall give highest priority to applications from school boards that:
1. Serve the most students who live in the areas with the highest asthma rates, as measured by the most recent data from the Virginia Department of Health, and lowest measured air quality, as determined by the most recent data from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality;
2. Will most reduce emissions by replacing the most polluting diesel school buses with the cleanest running electric school buses, as indicated by (i) the age of the school buses to be replaced and (ii) the annual vehicle miles traveled by the school buses to be replaced; or
3. Will complement the use of grant funds through other activities that will (i) enable broader deployment of electric vehicles, such as securing additional sources of funding through public-private partnerships with utilities as part of a transparent open process that allows for competition, grants from other entities, or the issuance of bonds, or (ii) achieve further reductions in emissions, such as installing solar panels to power electric school buses purchased with grant funds.
F. In awarding grants, the Department shall, to the greatest extent practicable, ensure a broad geographic distribution of grant awards.
G. Each grant recipient shall, in collaboration with its transportation employees:
1. Replace diesel school buses with electric school buses at rate that is at least as fast as the rate at which buses would normally be replaced in order to replace the entire diesel school bus fleet no later than 2030, giving priority to buses manufactured by an entity that creates jobs in the Commonwealth;
2. No later than one year after using grant funds to purchase an electric school bus, scrap the diesel engine of the school bus being replaced, unless Department grants a waiver in accordance with 49 U.S.C. § 5323(j)(2); and
3. Provide current employees with training to effectively operate, maintain, or otherwise adapt to new technologies relating to electric school buses.
H. No grant recipient shall, as a result of receiving a grant, lay off, transfer, demote, reduce the salary or benefits of, or worsen the working conditions of any current employee.
I. Any grant recipient may retain any funds or benefits received from scrapping a diesel engine, transferring or repurposing a diesel school bus as authorized by a waiver granted by the Department in accordance with 49 U.S.C. § 5323(j)(2), or reselling or reusing other parts of a diesel school bus that is replaced using grant funds.
J. Each electric school bus purchased with grant funds shall be operated as part of the school bus fleet for at least five years; be maintained, operated, and charged according to manufacturer recommendations and any applicable statutory and regulatory requirements; and comply with the requirements described in 49 U.S.C. § 5323(j).
K. No electric school bus purchased with grant funds shall contain a power unit or other technology that creates air pollution within the school bus, such as an unvented diesel passenger heater.
L. Any electric school bus purchased with grant funds may utilize a vehicle-to-grid battery system, provided that:
1. The school board or appropriate school board employee develops and implements a plan for bus parking locations and maximum battery drainage; and
2. The school board oversees bus and battery purchasing that allows for competition and a fair, transparent process. The school board also oversees any vehicle-to-grid usage involving the delivery of energy back to the grid and sale of electric power to a third party, ensuring that the process cannot be controlled by a monopoly entity that buys the bus batteries without allowing for competition and provides 10 percent of any earnings from such sales to the Department for the purpose of offsetting the administrative costs of the Program or, if surplus funds are available, to fund additional grants pursuant to the Program. The school boards' oversight shall be guided by a designated independent research group's study and full accounting of the Commonwealth's potential value streams for all parties involved with the Program. This accounting will aid school boards in the creation of a 10-year plan to ensure full transition of the buses with maximum carbon reduction, efficiency, and profitability for each school district. Due to the constantly changing nature of technology and energy production, the Program shall be reassessed each year on July 1 by an independent group of experts to ensure maximum carbon reduction, efficiency, and profitability and to ensure that an appropriate balance is being struck between the private and public shared value streams.
M. The Department may grant a waiver in accordance with 49 U.S.C. § 5323(j)(2)(C) for an electric school bus purchased with grant funds for which the cost of components and subcomponents produced in the United States (i) for each fiscal year 2020 through 2024 is more than 60 percent of the cost of all components of such school bus and (ii) for fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter is more than 70 percent of the cost of all components of such school bus.
N. The Department shall make available to the public on its website a downloadable electronic database of information with respect to each grant made under the Program, including (i) the school board that received the grant; (ii) the elements of the school board's successful application; (iii) the grant amount; (iv) the uses of grant funds; (v) the number, make and model, year of make, cost, annual miles traveled or estimated to be traveled, and number of students transported or estimated to be transported per day for each electric school bus purchased with grant funds and each diesel school bus replaced by each such electric school bus; (vi) an indication as to whether the grant recipient received any waiver authorized pursuant to this section; (vii) the number, make and model, year of make, fuel type, type of school bus, annual miles traveled, and the number of students transported per day of any scrapped diesel school bus; (viii) an estimate of the local air pollution emissions and global greenhouse gas emissions avoided as a result of purchasing electric school buses with grant funds; and (ix) any other information determined by the Department to enable an analysis of the use and impact of grant funds received pursuant to the Program.
O. No later than January 31 of each year, the Department shall submit to the General Assembly and make available to the public on its website a report that includes (i) a description of the grant applications received under the Program, including a summary of the elements of successful grant applications; (ii) a description of the grants awarded under the Program, including a summary of the information described in subsection N; (iii) a description of the effect of the receipt of grants on students, schools, local communities, industry, workforce, local air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions; and (iv) any other information that the Department deems necessary to assist the General Assembly in understanding the implementation, outcomes, and effectiveness of the Program.
P. The Department shall, in conjunction with national school bus transportation associations, educators, school bus drivers, and any other stakeholder that it deems appropriate, develop education outreach that promotes and explains the Program and the benefits of participating in the Program, informs school boards of the process for applying for grants, describes available electric school bus technologies and the benefits of such technologies, facilitates the sharing of best practices and lessons learned among grant recipients, and includes, as appropriate, information from the annual reports required under subsection O.
2. That the General Assembly shall review implementation of the Clean School Bus Grant Program established by this act by July 1, 2030. If the aims of the Program have not been accomplished, the Program shall be extended for an additional five years.
HOUSE BILL NO. 1140 Offered January 8, 2020 Prefiled January 7, 2020 A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-178.1, relating to the establishment of the Clean School Bus Grant Fund and Program.
"Electric school bus" means a school bus that is propelled to a significant extent by an electric motor that draws electricity from a battery and is capable of being recharged from an external source of electricity.
C. The Department shall, no later than July 1, 2020, establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program for the purpose of (i) awarding grants from the Fund on a competitive basis to school boards for (a) the complete replacement of existing diesel school buses with electric school buses no later than 2030, (b) the implementation of recharging infrastructure or other infrastructure needed to charge or maintain such electric school buses, and (c) workforce development and training to support the maintenance, charging, and operations of such electric school buses and (ii) developing an education outreach program pursuant to subsection P.
1. Serve the most students who live in the areas with the highest asthma rates and lowest measured air quality;
2. Will most reduce emissions by replacing the most polluting diesel school buses with the cleanest running electric school buses, as indicated by (i) the age of the school buses to be replaced, (ii) the annual vehicle miles traveled by the school buses to be replaced, and (iii) and the prioritization of electric school buses that can be plugged directly into schools that generate their own solar power or have battery storage units to augment the amount of power available; or
2. The school board oversees any vehicle-to-grid usage involving the sale of electric power to a third party, ensures that any earnings from such sales cannot be controlled by a monopoly entity that buys the bus batteries without allowing for competition, ensures that it receives a certain percentage of the revenue generated from such sales, makes a full accounting of such sales and reports such sales monthly to the Department, and provides 10 percent of any earnings from such sales to the Department for the purpose of offsetting the administrative costs of the Program or, if surplus funds are available, to fund additional grants pursuant to the Program.
2. That the provisions of this act shall expire on July 1, 2030.
For a plain English description of this bill, comments, voting, tagging, etc., return to the main page for HB1140.