Bill Text: NY A07749 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)
Status: (Vetoed) 2019-12-26 - VETOED MEMO.285 [A07749 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A07749-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7749 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 17, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL -- read once and referred 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: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the educa- 2 tion law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 a. (1) All contracts for the transportation of school children, all 5 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district 6 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts 7 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain 8 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service 9 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, 10 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best 11 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided 12 in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an 13 annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase 14 contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall 15 be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall 16 be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, 17 with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids 18 if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted 19 thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall 20 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 21 and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transportation, main- 22 tenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service 23 shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement 24 for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by 25 the board of education or trustee of the district having general circu- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11915-03-9A. 7749 2 1 lation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall 2 contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received 3 pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either 4 by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. 5 All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and 6 place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first 7 publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the 8 opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding 9 shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of 10 pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is 11 based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 12 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement 13 for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or trienni- 14 al extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive 15 bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a 16 contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses 17 or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding 18 or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 19 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such exten- 20 sions [(1)] (i) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a 21 district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, 22 and, [(2)] (ii) do not extend the original contract period beyond five 23 years from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced there- 24 under and in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for 25 the maintenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that 26 such contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in 27 the commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to 28 approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, [(i)] (A) 29 to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if 30 he finds that amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any 31 year of such proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the 32 regional consumer price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. 33 area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the 34 preceding twelve month period; and [(ii)] (B) to reject any extension of 35 a contract after ten years from the date transportation or maintenance 36 service commenced thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first 37 provided, if in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be 38 promoted thereby. Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the 39 commissioner may order the board of education or trustee of the district 40 to seek, obtain and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this 41 section. The board of education or the trustee of a school district 42 electing to extend a contract as provided herein, may, in its 43 discretion, increase the amount to be paid in each year of the contract 44 extension by an amount not to exceed the regional consumer price index 45 increase for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the 46 index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month 47 period, provided it has been satisfactorily established by the contrac- 48 tor that there has been at least an equivalent increase in the amount of 49 his cost of operation, during the period of the contract. 50 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, the board 51 of education of a school district located in a city with at least one 52 million inhabitants shall include in contracts for the transportation of 53 school children in kindergarten through grade twelve, whether awarded 54 through competitive bidding or through evaluation of proposals in 55 response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this 56 subdivision, provisions for the retention or preference in hiring ofA. 7749 3 1 school bus workers and for the preservation of wages, health, welfare 2 and retirement benefits and seniority for school bus workers who are 3 hired pursuant to such provisions for retention or preference in hiring, 4 in connection with such contracts and the cost of such provisions shall 5 be identified in contracts awarded pursuant to this subparagraph. For 6 purposes of this subparagraph, "contracts for the transportation of 7 school children" shall mean contracts for the transportation of pupils 8 attending school in such city school district under which transportation 9 services are performed by school bus workers; and "school bus worker" 10 shall mean an operator, mechanic, dispatcher or attendant who: (i) was 11 employed as of June thirtieth, two thousand ten or at any time thereaft- 12 er by (A) a contractor that was a party to a contract with the board of 13 education of a school district located in a city with at least one 14 million inhabitants for the transportation of school children in kinder- 15 garten through grade twelve, in connection with such contract, or (B) a 16 subcontractor of a contractor that was a party to a contract with the 17 board of education of a school district located in a city with at least 18 one million inhabitants for the transportation of school children in 19 kindergarten through grade twelve, in connection with such contract, and 20 (ii) has been furloughed or become unemployed as a result of a loss of 21 such contract, or a part of such contract, by such contractor or such 22 subcontractor, or as a result of a reduction in service directed by such 23 board of education during the term of such contract. 24 (3) By July thirtieth, two thousand twenty and annually thereafter, 25 the board of education located in a city with at least one million 26 inhabitants shall report to the director of the division of the budget, 27 the secretary to the senate finance committee, and the secretary to the 28 assembly ways and means committee on any competitive solicitation, 29 issued after April first, two thousand nineteen, undertaken for the two 30 thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty school year and thereafter relat- 31 ing to contracts for the transportation of school children in kindergar- 32 ten through grade twelve pursuant to subparagraph two of this paragraph 33 that contain provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of 34 school bus workers and for the preservation of wages, health, welfare 35 and retirement benefits and seniority for school bus workers who are 36 hired pursuant to such provisions for retention or preference in hiring, 37 in connection with such contracts. Such report shall address the results 38 of retention or preference in hiring of school bus workers and for the 39 preservation of wages, health, welfare and retirement benefits and 40 seniority for school bus workers associated with the contracts contain- 41 ing such provisions, a listing of other provisions contained in such 42 contracts, and the average increase in cost of such contracts, if any, 43 and a detailed explanation for such increases. 44 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 3623-a of the education law is amended 45 by adding a new paragraph g to read as follows: 46 g. Notwithstanding any provision in this subdivision to the contrary, 47 for a board of education of a city school district located in a city 48 with at least one million inhabitants, expenditures solely for substi- 49 tute contracts eligible for aid pursuant to subdivision seven of section 50 thirty-six hundred two of this article shall be reduced, for the 51 original term of such substitute contracts, by the costs attributable to 52 provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of school bus work- 53 ers and for the preservation of wages, health, welfare and retirement 54 benefits and seniority for school bus workers who are hired pursuant to 55 such provisions for retention or preference in hiring in connection with 56 such substitute contracts, as such costs are identified pursuant toA. 7749 4 1 subparagraph two of paragraph a of subdivision fourteen of section three 2 hundred five of this chapter, as such identified costs may be adjusted 3 pursuant to such substitute contracts. Such identified costs shall not 4 include any costs attributable to wages or benefits, or to any increase 5 in wages or benefits, other than such incremental costs attributable to 6 provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of school bus work- 7 ers and for the _preservation of wages, health, welfare and retirement 8 benefits and seniority for school bus workers who are hired pursuant to 9 such provisions for retention or preference in hiring in connection with 10 such substitute contracts. For the purposes of this paragraph: "substi- 11 tute contracts" shall mean contracts for transportation services for 12 students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers, procured, 13 pursuant to a competitive solicitation issued after April first, two 14 thousand nineteen, for the purpose of replacing expired or terminated 15 contracts which had been awarded pursuant to request for bids number 16 B2192 or B2321; "contracts for transportation services" shall mean 17 contracts for the transportation of pupils attending school in such city 18 school district under which transportation services are performed by 19 school bus workers; and "original term" shall mean the initial term of 20 the substitute contract, or the initial term of the substitute contract 21 plus the initial term of any additional subsequent substitute contracts, 22 provided that the initial term of any substitute contract and the 23 initial term of any subsequent substitute contracts, if any, shall 24 equal, for purposes of this paragraph, a cumulative total of five years. 25 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
