NY State Senate Bill 2019-S5096

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee New York City Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to new york city education
May 01, 2019	committee discharged and committed to new york city education
Apr 09, 2019	referred to education

co-Sponsors

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate New York City Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §305, Ed L

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires contracts for the transportation of school children in a city of at least one million inhabitants to contain provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of school bus workers.

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5096

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
contracts for the transportation of school children

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would provide employee protection provisions for New York City
school bus drivers and attendants.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Subdivision 14 of Section 305 of the Education Law by
adding a new paragraph that requires a board of education of a school
district located in a city with at least one million inhabitants to
include employee protection provisions in its contracts for the trans-
portation of schoolchildren. The board of education's transportation
contract must include provisions for the retention or preference in
hiring of school bus workers and for the preservation of wages, health,
welfare, and retirement benefits and seniority for school bus workers.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This bill would restore critical employee protections to New York City
school bus drivers and attendants, by ensuring that these hardworking
New Yorkers are once again entitled to fair wages, reliable pensions,
and equal treatment by every school bus contractor. This bill would
require that any future Request-For-Bid (RFB) or Request-For-Proposal
(RFP), issued by New York City, include employee protection provisions
(EPPs). The employee protection provisions require contractors to hire
experienced and qualified workers from a master seniority list. This
change would also give the City of New York the ability to renegotiate
any existing contracts, with the mutual consent of the bus contractor,
that do not include the EPPs.

School bus drivers and attendants play a critical, daily role in the
lives of students and their families. They are the first person a child
sees in the morning when they leave home and the one constant during
their return home in the afternoon. Many drivers and attendants work
12-hour days, beginning their shifts as early as 5:00AM and returning
home after nightfall.

The vast majority of these workers are women, and 80% are women and men
of color. EPPs ensure that these hardworking New Yorkers are hired based
on experience and the years of real-world training that come with safely
driving, managing, and often consoling dozens of children of all ages,
abilities, and emotional states. Their wages are modest, but with EPPs,
drivers and attendants have historically had an opportunity to build a
meaningful career and earn a fair pension.

For over four decades, a bipartisan legacy of New York City worked hard
to ensure that EPPs were in every school bus contract. However, in 2012,
the Bloomberg Administration hastily withdrew EPPs from school bus RFBs
and RFPs, forcing thousands of workers into a labor strike that cost
taxpayers $25 million. Over time, the withdrawal of EPPs created an
uneven playing field between contractors that guarantee fair wages and
pensions though EPPs in collective bargaining agreements and those that
do not. This imbalance has forced at least four different EPP contrac-
tors into bankruptcy since 2012, leading to massive and unprecedented
turnover among the ranks of drivers and attendants.

These experienced workers have been forced out of a job and on to
government assistance-such as Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assis-
tance-coming at a direct cost to taxpayers. These conditions have pushed
the industry to a breaking point. If the State does not take action this
year, thousands of jobs will be lost, union-friendly contractors will go
bankrupt or withdraw from the school system, and anti-union forces will
take permanent control of the industry.

While the City of New York supports EPPs, the Bloomberg Administration's
withdrawal led to years of litigation that has made it extremely diffi-
cult for the current administration to fulfill its goal of leveling the
playing field and treating all workers fairly.  State action is required
to solve this enduring and dangerous flaw in New York City's school bus
contracting system.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5096
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               April 9, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. JACKSON, LIU -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
 
 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. (1) 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] THE opinion OF THE
 COMMISSIONER, the best interests of the district will be promoted there-
 by. Except as provided in paragraph e  of  this  subdivision,  all  such
 contracts involving an annual expenditure in excess of the amount speci-
 fied  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] THE opinion OF THE COMMISSIONER, the
 best  interests  of the district will be promoted thereby and, upon such
 rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall order the board of  educa-
 tion  or  trustee  of  the  district  to  seek,  obtain and consider new
 proposals. All proposals for such  transportation,  maintenance,  mobile
 instructional  units,  or  cafeteria  and restaurant service shall be in
 such form as the commissioner may prescribe.    Advertisement  for  bids
 shall  be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by the board
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD09912-02-9

 S. 5096                             2
 
 of education or trustee of the district having general circulation with-
 in 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 para-
 graph e of this subdivision. The  requirement  for  competitive  bidding
 shall  not  apply  to  annual,  biennial,  or  triennial 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 instruc-
 tional units secured either through competitive bidding or through eval-
 uation of proposals in response to a request for proposals  pursuant  to
 paragraph e of this subdivision, when such extensions [(1)] (I) are made
 by  the board of education or the trustee of a district, under rules and
 regulations prescribed by the  commissioner,  and,  [(2)]  (II)  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  maintenance  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] THE existing statutory authority OF THE COMMISSIONER
 to approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts,  [(i)]
 (A) to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term there-
 of if [he] THE COMMISSIONER 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 consumer price index for the  N.Y.,
 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum-
 ers  (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve month period; and [(ii)] (B) to
 reject any extension of a contract after ten years from the date  trans-
 portation   or  maintenance  service  commenced  thereunder,  or  mobile
 instructional units were first provided, if in [his] THE opinion OF  THE
 COMMISSIONER, the best interests of the district will be promoted there-
 by.  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
 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 consum-
 ers  (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]  SUCH  CONTRACTOR'S
 cost of operation, during the period of the contract.
   (2) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE BOARD
 OF  EDUCATION  OF  A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE
 MILLION INHABITANTS SHALL INCLUDE, IN CONTRACTS FOR  THE  TRANSPORTATION
 OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, WHETHER AWARDED
 THROUGH  COMPETITIVE  BIDDING  OR  THROUGH  EVALUATION  OF  PROPOSALS IN

 S. 5096                             3
 
 RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PURSUANT  TO  PARAGRAPH  E  OF  THIS
 SUBDIVISION,  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING OF
 SCHOOL BUS WORKERS AND FOR THE PRESERVATION OF  WAGES,  HEALTH,  WELFARE
 AND  RETIREMENT  BENEFITS  AND  SENIORITY FOR SCHOOL BUS WORKERS WHO ARE
 HIRED PURSUANT TO SUCH PROVISIONS FOR RETENTION OR PREFERENCE IN HIRING,
 IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH CONTRACTS. FOR PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SUBPARAGRAPH,
 "SCHOOL  BUS  WORKER"  SHALL  MEAN  AN OPERATOR, MECHANIC, DISPATCHER OR
 ATTENDANT WHO: (I) WAS EMPLOYED AS OF JUNE THIRTIETH, TWO  THOUSAND  TEN
 OR  AT  ANY  TIME  THEREAFTER  BY (A) A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS A PARTY TO A
 CONTRACT WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED  IN  A
 CITY  WITH  AT  LEAST  ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF
 SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION WITH
 SUCH CONTRACT, OR (B) A SUBCONTRACTOR OF A CONTRACTOR THAT WAS  A  PARTY
 TO  A  CONTRACT WITH THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCATED
 IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS FOR  THE  TRANSPORTATION
 OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE, IN CONNECTION
 WITH SUCH CONTRACT, AND (II) HAS BEEN FURLOUGHED OR BECOME UNEMPLOYED AS
 A RESULT OF A LOSS OF SUCH CONTRACT, OR A PART OF SUCH CONTRACT, BY SUCH
 CONTRACTOR OR SUCH SUBCONTRACTOR, OR AS  A  RESULT  OF  A  REDUCTION  IN
 SERVICE  DIRECTED  BY  SUCH  BOARD  OF EDUCATION DURING THE TERM OF SUCH
 CONTRACT. ANY COSTS  DIRECTLY  ATTRIBUTED  TO  THE  PROVISIONS  OF  THIS
 SUBPARAGRAPH  SHALL  BE  COVERED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL
 DISTRICT LOCATED IN A CITY WITH AT LEAST ONE MILLION INHABITANTS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S5096

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee New York City Education Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Robert Jackson

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee New York City Education Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

John C. Liu

Andrew Gounardes

Roxanne J. Persaud

Julia Salazar

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S5096 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments