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S. 828 119th Congress Senate

School Bus Safety Act of 2025

Official title: A bill to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue rules requiring the inclusion of new safety equipment in school buses, and for other purposes.

Introduced: March 4, 2025 Introduced by: Tammy Duckworth Democratic · Illinois See on congress.gov
Transportation and Public Works
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 4, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced in Senate
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What's happening now March 4, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

School Bus Safety Act of 2025

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue rules requiring school buses to have certain safety features. DOT must also establish a grant program to assist in the implementation of the requirements.

Specifically, DOT must issue rules requiring school buses to include

  • three-point safety belts for all seats,
  • a fire suppression system which addresses engine fires,
  • a firewall between the engine and passenger compartment that prevents hazardous quantities of gas or flames from passing through the firewall,
  • increased performance standards for interior flammability and smoke emissions,
  • an automatic emergency braking system,
  • an event data recorder, and
  • an electronic stability control system.

DOT must also require at least eight hours of behind-the-wheel training for school bus operators that meets specified requirements.

Further, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) must issue rules on the evaluation of safety sensitive personnel for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea.

NHTSA must also study the benefits of requiring school buses manufactured in, or imported into, the United States to be equipped with a motion-activated detection system that is capable of detecting road users (e.g., pedestrians and bicyclists) and alerting the bus operator of their presence. NHTSA must issue rules implementing such a requirement.

Finally, DOT must establish a grant program to assist local educational agencies in (1) purchasing school buses equipped with three-point safety belts or any of the other safety features required under this bill, and (2) modifying existing school buses.

 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 1828 Identical bill School Bus Safety Act of 2025
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 7

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 4th Quarter 2025 (Oct 1 - Dec 31)
  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)
  • PRIME POLICY GROUP
    for NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 7 filings →
 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Democratic 1
D
Warnock, Raphael G.
Georgia · Jul 13, 2026
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 828: School Bus Safety Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-828/
MLA
"S. 828: School Bus Safety Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-828/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 828, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-828/.
Markdown link
[S. 828: School Bus Safety Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-828/)
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