OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 279 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 279’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Willis
Effective date:
Margaret E. Marcy, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Within five years of the bill’s effective date, requires every school bus purchased,
owned, leased, or rented by a school or school district to be equipped with occupant
restraining devices (i.e., seat belts) for every student transported on the school bus.
 Requires the Ohio State Highway Patrol to enforce the seat belt requirement as part of
its regular inspections of school bus equipment.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Seat belts on school buses
The bill requires every school bus purchased, owned, leased, or rented by a school or
school district to be equipped with occupant restraining devices (i.e., seat belts). It specifies
that there must be enough seat belts on the bus for each student riding the bus to use a
separate seat belt. Schools and school districts must comply with the requirement within five
years after the bill’s effective date. The Ohio State Highway Patrol must enforce the seat belt
requirement within their regular school bus equipment inspections.1
Under the bill, a school is a community school, STEM school, a college-preparatory
boarding school, a chartered nonpublic school, and a nonchartered nonpublic school. A school
district includes a city, exempted village, local, and joint vocational school district. Thus, the
bill’s requirements apply to any school bus serving any school (kindergarten through high
school) in Ohio.2
1 R.C. 4511.773(B) and (C).
2 R.C. 4511.773(A).
September 29, 2023
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Current law generally requires the Director of Public Safety, in consultation with the
Department of Education and Workforce, to adopt rules and regulations related to the
construction, design, and equipment of all publicly and privately owned and operated school
buses. Additionally, the law requires some specific equipment for school buses (e.g., a seat belt
for the driver of a school bus).3
Federal law
Federal law and regulations establish minimum standards for the design of and
equipment for school buses. A state, however, can establish stricter equipment requirements
than those established at the federal level for school buses registered within that state.
Currently, federal law requires small school buses (those with a gross vehicle weight rating of
10,000 pounds or less) to be equipped with either lap or lap/shoulder seat belts at all
designated seating positions.4 Conversely, larger school buses are not required to have
passenger seat belts installed. However, as of 2018, the National Transportation Safety Board
(in a nonbinding opinion) recommends passenger seat belt installation on all school buses,
regardless of size.5
Currently, at least nine states (Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada,
New Jersey, New York, and Texas) have passed laws or adopted rules requiring passenger seat
belts on school buses. However, in several states occupant restraining device installation has
not been implemented due to funding issues and, in other states, implementation of the
requirement is at the discretion of each school district.6
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 09-20-23
ANHB0279IN-135/ar
3 R.C. 4511.76 and 4511.772, not in the bill.
4 49 Code of Federal Regulations 571.222.
5See the National Transportation Safety Board’s Special Investigation Report “Selective Issues in School
Bus Transportation Safety: Crashes in Baltimore, Maryland, and Chattanooga, Tennessee” (PDF) which
can be accessed on the NTSC website at: ntsb.gov.
6See “School Bus Safety.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Updated September 1, 2022. Found
on NCSL’s website at: ncsl.org.
P a g e |2 H.B. 279
As Introduced