S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7899

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              June 17, 2014
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  DILAN  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

AN ACT to amend the education law, in  relation  to  contracts  for  the
  transportation of school children

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the  educa-
tion  law,  as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to
read as follows:
  a. All contracts  for  the  transportation  of  school  children,  all
contracts  to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district
that are used for the transportation of school children,  all  contracts
for  mobile  instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain
and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a  private  food  service
management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner,
who  may  disapprove  a  proposed  contract if, in his opinion, the best
interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except  as  provided
in  paragraph  e  of  this  subdivision, all such contracts involving an
annual expenditure in  excess  of  the  amount  specified  for  purchase
contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall
be  awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall
be determined by the board of education or the trustee  of  a  district,
with  power  hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids
if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be  promoted
thereby  and,  upon  such  rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall
order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek,  obtain
and  consider  new  proposals.   PROVIDED THAT NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER
PROVISION OF THIS SUBDIVISION: (I) THE BOARD OF EDUCATION  OF  A  SCHOOL
DISTRICT  LOCATED  IN  A  CITY  WITH A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE
SHALL INCLUDE IN CONTRACTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION  OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN,
WHETHER  AWARDED  THROUGH  COMPETITIVE  BIDDING OR THROUGH EVALUATION OF
PROPOSALS IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH E
OF THIS SUBDIVISION, PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  RETENTION  OR  PREFERENCE  IN
HIRING  OF EMPLOYEES PREVIOUSLY OR CURRENTLY PERFORMING WORK FOR EMPLOY-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                           LBD15641-01-4

S. 7899                             2

ERS THAT HAVE BEEN OR ARE PARTIES TO SUCH CONTRACTS, IN CONNECTION  WITH
SUCH  CONTRACTS, AND PROVISIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LEVELS OF WAGES,
HEALTH AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS  AND  SENIORITY  FOR  EMPLOYEES  OF  SUCH
EMPLOYERS,  IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS; OR (II) THE CHANCELLOR OF
THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK SHALL PROMULGATE  REGU-
LATIONS  REQUIRING  THE  RETENTION  OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING OF EMPLOYEES
PREVIOUSLY OR CURRENTLY PERFORMING WORK FOR EMPLOYERS THAT HAVE BEEN  OR
ARE  PARTIES  TO  SUCH CONTRACTS, IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS, AND
PROVISIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LEVELS OF WAGES, HEALTH  AND  RETIRE-
MENT  BENEFITS  AND  SENIORITY  FOR  EMPLOYEES  OF  SUCH  EMPLOYERS,  IN
CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS. All proposals for  such  transportation,
maintenance,  mobile  instructional  units,  or cafeteria and restaurant
service shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe.  Adver-
tisement for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers desig-
nated by the board of education or trustee of the district having gener-
al circulation within the district for such purpose. Such  advertisement
shall  contain  a  statement  of  the time when and place where all bids
received pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read
either by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by
them. All bids received shall be publicly opened and read  at  the  time
and  place  so  specified.  At  least five days shall elapse between the
first publication of such advertisement and the date  so  specified  for
the opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding
shall  not  apply  to  an  award of a contract for the transportation of
pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if  such  award  is
based  on  an  evaluation  of  proposals  in  response  to a request for
proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision.  The  requirement
for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or trienni-
al  extensions  of  a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive
bidding apply to  quadrennial  or  quinquennial  year  extensions  of  a
contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses
or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding
or  through  evaluation  of  proposals  in  response  to  a  request for
proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such  exten-
sions  (1)  are  made  by  the  board  of  education or the trustee of a
district, under rules and regulations prescribed  by  the  commissioner,
and,  (2)  do  not extend the original contract period beyond five years
from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder  and
in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the main-
tenance  of  school  buses  or for mobile instructional units, that such
contracts may be extended, except that power is  hereby  vested  in  the
commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to approve
or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, (i) to reject any
extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he finds that
amount  to be paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such
proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consum-
er price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J.  area,  based  upon
the  index  for  all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve
month period; and (ii) to reject any extension of a contract  after  ten
years  from  the  date  transportation  or maintenance service commenced
thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first provided, if in his
opinion, the best interests of the district will  be  promoted  thereby.
Upon  such  rejection  of  any  proposed extension, the commissioner may
order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek,  obtain
and  consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board
of education or the trustee of a school district electing  to  extend  a

S. 7899                             3

contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount
to  be  paid  in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to
exceed  the  regional  consumer  price  index  increase  for  the  N.Y.,
N.Y.-Northeastern,  N.J.    area,  based  upon  the  index for all urban
consumers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month period, provided it
has been satisfactorily established by the  contractor  that  there  has
been at least an equivalent increase in the amount of his cost of opera-
tion, during the period of the contract.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.