Gov. Phil Murphy Signs 6 School Bus Safety Bills Into Law

Gov. Phil Murphy signed a package of school bus safety bills into law Monday that were inspired by the horrific fatal school bus crash on I-80 that killed a teacher and child earlier this year.

Murphy signed a series of bills that raise safety standards for school buses and operators in New Jersey.

Under the new laws, parents will be able to send their children to school knowing that school buses and drivers are being held to "extremely high standards designed to ensure the safety of students," Murphy said.

"After the tragic school bus accident in Morris County earlier this year, it became clearer than ever that we must act to protect our children and educators through common sense school bus safety reforms,” said Murphy.

The legislation signed by Murphy, and their sponsors, enshrines in law the following requirements:

• A4339 (Swain, Tully, Benson, Jones/Diegnan, Lagana) requires school bus operations in the state to comply with federal regulations concerning safety, noise emissions, insurance, and drug testing, among other areas.
• A4345 (Tully, Swain, Benson, Jones/Diegnan, Holzapfel) requires all permanent and substitute school bus drivers and aides to undergo safety education programs twice every year.
• S2848 (Diegnan, Lagana/Tully, Swain, Benson, Jones) requires holders of a bus driver license to submit a medical report by a certified medical examiner. It also requires bus drivers over age 70 to submit proof of physical fitness every year, and those over age 75 to submit this proof every six months.
• S2850 (Lagana, Diegnan/Swain, Jones, Tully, Benson) requires that when the Department of Education notifies a board of education or a school bus contractor that a school bus driver has had their bus driver license suspended or revoked, the board of education or school bus contractor must verify to DOE that the driver in question no longer operates a bus for them.

Video footage was released last month showing the I-80 bus crash in May that also seriously injured dozens of others. The footage was released in response to lawsuit filed by several New Jersey media outlets.

Read more: Video Shows I-80 Bus Crash That Killed Paramus Student, Teacher

The bus was driven by Hudy Muldrow Sr., 77, of Jersey City who had tried to cross several lanes of traffic before being T-boned by a dump truck traveling in the center lane, police said. The body of the bus was ripped from the chassis and sent flying into the center median, police said.

The bus was packed with students and teachers from the East Brook Middle School in Paramus as they made the trip to Waterloo Village in Stanhope. Every person on the bus was injured and taken to a hospital.

Muldrow faces two counts of death by auto in relation to the crash, which killed Miranda Vargas, 10, and Jennifer Williamson Kennedy, 51. He was released from jail on May 30 on the condition he surrender his driver's license and have no contact with the living victims, or the families of any victims, as the charges against him are pending.

It is unclear if he has been suspended or fired from his job with the Paramus Board of Education, but the terms of his release would make returning to work impossible regardless.

Muldrow's attorney, Matthew Reisig, has said Muldrow is innocent and has no memory of the crash. Muldrow told Reisig he remembers pulling onto Route 80, hearing a horn blare and pulling over to the shoulder, but nothing else.

Muldrow has a long history of driving troubles, including 14 license suspensions, eight speeding tickets, and a careless driving ticket. His commercial driver's license was suspended nine times between 1977 and 2018, including during the school's winter break from Dec. 20, 2017 to Jan. 3, 2018.

Paramus Superintendent Michele Robinson has defended the district's hiring and retention of Muldrow, saying they were unaware of his driving record. He was employed by the district for 34 years, officials said in court.

Sen. Joseph Lagana, D-Bergen, said the May accident was "a nightmare scenario” and "as parents, we should not have to worry about the safety of our children when they are on a school bus."

"This horrific accident prompted me to call for legislative hearings which raised questions about how we can make school buses safer, write tougher regulations relating to bus drivers and bus operators and how we monitor our children once they board a bus," he said. "This package of bills addresses these concerns and should ensure that no parent or child will have to go through what too many have endured these past few months.”

Sen. Patrick Diegnan, D-Middlesex, said the new laws "will help ensure that the school bus accidents like the ones we have seen over the past few months never happen again."

"The package of bills focuses on school bus operations and drivers to be required to comply with both state and federal regulations," he said. "We want school bus drivers to be knowledgeable of how to handle a bus and know what the procedures are in the event an accident occurs. These new changes will go a long way in making sure we improve school bus safety for our children.”

With reporting by Katie Kausch

Image: Emergency personnel work at the scene of a fatal Paramus school bus crash on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive Thursday morning. (By Avi Gibli, used with permission)