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 Re-reported by House Finance
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Willis and Brown
Effective date:
Margaret E. Marcy, Attorney
SUMMARY
Penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus
▪ Increases the penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus that is loading or
unloading passengers by setting required minimum fines, increasing the maximum fines,
increasing the length of the driver’s license suspension, and imposing higher penalties
and points on a driver’s license for repeat offenders.
▪ Requires all repeat offenders to attend and successfully complete a school bus safety
course, developed by the Director of Public Safety, and authorizes first-time offenders to
take the course to lower their fine and waive the imposition of points on their license.
School bus cameras
▪ Authorizes the installation and use of school bus camera equipment that can capture an
image, images, or video solely for purposes of recording violations of illegally passing a
stopped school bus.
▪ Requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS), with the advice of the Department of
Education and Workforce (DEW), to adopt rules governing school bus cameras, but
prohibits the rules from authorizing the use of cameras for automated enforcement.
▪ Authorizes the use of an image, images, or video captured by a school bus camera to
corroborate a school bus driver’s report of a possible violation of illegally passing the
driver’s stopped school bus.
▪ Prohibits law enforcement from issuing a citation for illegally passing a stopped school
bus solely based on an image, images, or video captured by a school bus camera.
December 13, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
School Bus Safety Fund and Grant Program
▪ Creates the School Bus Safety Fund in the state treasury, consisting of money
appropriated by the General Assembly and criminal fines collected for violations of
passing a stopped school bus.
▪ Requires the Director of Education and Workforce to administer the fund and use the
money in it to support efforts by DEW and DPS in educating the public regarding the laws
governing school bus safety and to make grants to school districts to improve the safety
features on school buses.
▪ Requires the DEW to administer the School Bus Safety Grant Program.
▪ Requires the transfer of $25 million from the General Revenue Fund to the School Bus
Safety Fund and appropriates it for FY 2025.
Public education on school bus safety
▪ Requires DPS, especially through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), to require the
display of graphics about school bus safety and the laws related to it at deputy registrar
offices and on its websites.
▪ Also requires BMV to issue summaries of those laws and the process of reporting a
violation of those laws to persons obtaining a license plate or driver’s license.
▪ Generally, requires DPS, in conjunction with DEW, to educate the public regarding the
laws pertaining to school bus safety.
Other student transportation provisions
▪ Modifies provisions of current law that authorize the use of other vehicles in lieu of a
school bus for the transportation of students to specify that the vehicle must have been
originally designed and manufactured for not more than ten passengers (including the
driver).
Designations
▪ Designates the month of August as “School Bus Safety Month.”
▪ Names the bill the “School Bus Safety Act.”
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus
Background
Under current law, a driver must stop for a school bus when both of the following apply:
1. The driver meets or overtakes the school bus, from either direction; and
P a g e |2 H.B. 279
As Re-reported by House Finance
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
2. The school bus is stopped to pick up or drop off a school child, a child attending a Head
Start Program, or a person attending programs offered by a community board of mental
health or a county board of developmental disabilities.1
The driver must stop at least ten feet from the bus and may not proceed until either the
bus moves or the school bus driver signals the driver to proceed. (The bill expressly adds that a
law enforcement officer also may signal the driver to proceed.)2 A school bus driver or any other
witness to a driver illegally passing a stopped school bus may report the license plate number,
description of the vehicle, and description of the driver to a law enforcement agency. A law
enforcement agency that receives this report must investigate the report of the alleged violation
to attempt to determine the identity of the driver at the time of the alleged violation. If the
agency can determine the identity of the driver, the agency has probable cause (based on the
license plate number) to issue a criminal citation to the driver. If the agency cannot determine
the identity of the driver, the agency must send a warning to the owner of the vehicle.3
Increased penalties
The bill increases the penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus that is loading or
unloading passengers. In short, it makes the fines mandatory rather than permissive, specifies a
minimum fine, increases the length of any driver’s license suspension imposed, and creates a
tiered system with greater penalties for repeat offenders. As under current law, a person must
appear in court and cannot enter a plea of guilty and waive the right to contest the citation. 4
A summary of the increased penalties is in the table below.
Penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus
Type of penalty Current law Under the bill
Level of offense5 No specification Unclassified misdemeanor6
All offenders First-time offender
Fine7
Permissive Mandatory
1
R.C. 4511.75(A). If the highway is four or more lanes of divided traffic, however, drivers travelling in the
opposite direction of the school bus are not required to stop for the school bus. R.C. 4511.75(C).
2
R.C. 4511.75(A)(1).
3
R.C. 4511.751.
4
R.C. 4511.75(F)(2).
5
R.C. 4511.75(F).
6
As such, other penalties related to misdemeanors are available, but the court is not allowed to impose
a fine or a license suspension different from those specified by the statute and may not impose a jail term
or community sanction. R.C. 4511.71(F)(6).
7
R.C. 4511.75(F)(1).
P a g e |3 H.B. 279
As Re-reported by House Finance
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus
Type of penalty Current law Under the bill
$0 to $500 $250 to $1,000 (may be
lowered to $150 by taking
educational course)
Repeat offender (within 5 years)
Mandatory
$350 to $2000
All offenders First-time offender
Permissive Permissive
Class 7 (up to a year) Class 6 (3 months to 2 years)
Driver’s license suspension8
Repeat offender (within 5 years)
Mandatory
Class 5 (6 months to 3 years)
All offenders First-time offender
2-points (as part of a general 2-points (may be waived by
Points on driver’s license “all other moving violations”)9 taking educational course)
Repeat offender (within 5 years)
4-points10
None First-time offender
Offender may choose to attend
and successfully complete the
School bus safety educational course to lower the fine and
course11 waive the points on the
offender’s driver’s license.
Repeat offender (within 5 years)
Mandatory
8
R.C. 4511.75(F)(3); R.C. 4510.02, not in the bill.
9
R.C. 4510.036(C)(16) modified to (17) under the bill.
10
R.C. 4510.036(C)(14) and 4511.75(F)(5).
11
R.C. 4511.75(F)(4). The Director of Public Safety must develop the contents and duration of the course.
P a g e |4 H.B. 279
As Re-reported by House Finance
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Any fines collected by the court must be paid to the School Bus Safety Fund and used for
the purposes of that fund (see below).12
School bus cameras
The bill authorizes the installation and use of school bus camera equipment that can
capture an image, images, or video solely for purposes of recording drivers who illegally pass a
stopped school bus. DPS, with the advice of DEW, must adopt and enforce rules governing the
school bus camera equipment. However, they are prohibited from authorizing the school bus
cameras to be used for automated enforcement (i.e., a system that generates citations
immediately to the registered owner of the vehicle).13 Current law neither specifically authorizes
nor prohibits the use of cameras on a school bus.
Relatedly, the bill authorizes a school bus driver’s report of an alleged illegal passing of a
stopped school bus to be corroborated by an image, images, or video captured by a school bus
camera. Law enforcement may use the image, images, or video as evidence in their investigation.
However, they cannot issue a citation solely based on the image, images, or video. Rather, the
image, images, or video must be used in conjunction with the school bus driver’s report, any
other eye-witness testimony, and evidence gathered through the investigation.14
School Bus Safety Fund and Grant Program
Fund and appropriation
The bill creates the School Bus Safety Fund in the state treasury that consists of money
appropriated by the General Assembly and criminal fines collected for violations of passing a
stopped school bus. The Director of Education and Workforce is responsible for administering
the fund. The Director may use money in the fund for two purposes — grants to school districts
for the installation of school bus safety features and to provide financial support to the
Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for
educating the public about school bus safety laws. All investment earnings of the fund must be
credited back to the fund.15 The bill requires $25 million to be transferred from the General
Revenue Fund (GRF) to the School Bus Safety Fund and appropriates it for fiscal year 2025. Any
unexpended and unencumbered portion is reappropriated for fiscal year 2026.16
12
R.C. 4511.75(G).
13
R.C. 4511.76(A).
14
R.C. 4511.751(B) and (C).
15
R.C. 3327.18.
16
Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6.
P a g e |5 H.B. 279
As Re-reported by House Finance
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Grants for school bus safety features
As indicated above, DEW must administer a School Bus Safety Grant Program. Under the
program, DEW must award grants to eligible applicants17 to help fund any of the following:
1. The purchase and installation of school bus safety features on the applicant’s school buses
that do not currently have those features installed;
2. The purchase and installation of school bus safety features to replace old, broken, or
outdated safety features on the applicant’s current school buses; and
3. The purchase of school bus safety features as additional features to be included on new
school buses being purchased by the applicant.
The list of school bus safety features covered by the grant program are based
on recommendations from the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, created by
Governor DeWine. They include all of the following:
▪ External school bus cameras;
▪ Crossing arms;
▪ Lane departure warning systems;
▪ Electronic stability control;
▪ Lighted crossover mirrors;
▪ Colorado rack test-approved bus frames;
▪ Fully illuminated stop arms located at the front and rear of the school bus;
▪ Fully illuminated “school bus” signs;
▪ Collision avoidance systems;
▪ All light-emitting diode lights;
▪ Ground wash lights;
▪ Reflective chevron;
▪ Seat belts; and
▪ Any additional safety features that become available through advancements in
technology that are approved by DPS and DEW.18
17
An “eligible applicant” is a board of education of a city school district, a local school district, and
exempted village school district, a cooperative education school district, or a joint vocational school
district, or a governing board of an educational service center. R.C. 3327.19(A)(1).
18
See “Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group Issues 17 Recommendations.” It can be found by searching
“school bus safety” on the Ohio Governor’s website at: governor.ohio.gov.
P a g e |6 H.B. 279
As Re-reported by House Finance
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
The Director of Education and Workforce must establish the procedures and
requirements necessary to administer the program, including the form of the grant application
and the award processes and amounts. Any applicant who receives a grant through the program
must use the funds only towards the purchase and installation of school bus safety features and
must spend the funds within two years of their distribution to the applicant.19
Public education on school bus safety
The bill generally requires DPS, in conjunction with DEW, to educate the public regarding
the laws pertaining to school bus safety.20 As part of those efforts, DPS, through the Bureau of
Motor Vehicles (BMV), the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, and the deputy registrars must display at
each deputy registrar office and each driver examination location, at all times and in a prominent
place, a graphic that instructs drivers to stop and yield to a stopped school bus that is loading or
unloading passengers. That graphic also must be displayed on the BMV website.21 Additionally,
through the BMV website and at the time of issuing license plates or a driver’s license to any
person, the Registrar and deputy registrars must provide access to a summary of the following:
▪ The requirement to stop and yield to a school bus that is stopped to load or unload
passengers;
▪ The penalties for failing to stop and yield to that stopped school bus; and
▪ The process that allows a witness to an illegal passing of a stopped school bus to
corroborate the school bus driver’s report to law enforcement.22
Other student tr