School Transportation News
BOSTON (June 10, 2008) — The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is attempting to turn a voluntary anti-idling policy into a mandate. Senate Bill 2628 would cut down idle times at school campuses for not only school buses, but parent, student and faculty vehicles.
"MassDEP developed the Idling Reduction Toolkit and has provided grants to numerous communities to reduce idling in the Commonwealth," said Edmund Coletta, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. "We have found many drivers were simply not aware of the idling restrictions. Increased awareness seems to make subsequent enforcement easier too."
At this time, at least 40 communities have signed on to the voluntary idle reduction policy. The proposed legislation would require the registrar of motor vehicles, department of education, department of environmental protection, the executive office of public safety and the executive office of health and human services to work together to adopt the regulations to implement the bill. But, the bill does not actually define the requirements.
"By not repeating the current requirements in this bill, the legislature may be trying to ensure that the two laws are not at odds with each other. Checking with the various agencies that may be involved would help to ensure consistent requirements," explained Coletta.
As of this writing, the bill has been referred to the committee on House Ways and Means.
Last year, Vermont passed an anti-idling bill for school buses while Texas vetoed a similar bill.