At a recent transportation budget hearing in Albany, Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City, had a warning about electric buses.
“Here’s a cautionary note, which is that the electric buses, about 60 altogether that we’ve received so far, have been underperforming in terms of their breakdown frequency,” he told legislators, adding that the MTA has stopped buying buses because of persistent problems.
But here in Upstate New York, a state mandate, passed in the 2022-23 state budget that I did not support, requires all new school buses purchased in New York be zero-emission by 2027 and all school buses in operation be electric by 2035.
Source: nysenate.gov
This mandate – much like many others put in place by the Democratic majorities in the legislature and governor – is unreasonable, unrealistic and unaffordable.
Many school districts have shared concerns and challenges they are facing regarding their ability to comply with it. Some of the challenges that stakeholders have identified include utility providers being unable to provide adequate power to districts; fiscal challenges related to school buses and charging infrastructure acquisition; and zero-emission school buses not being conducive to long bus routes or cold weather.
To help school districts, I introduced legislation (S.3328) that would provide districts with the option of submitting an opt-out waiver that would permanently exempt them from the provisions required by the bus mandate.
The bill, which would take effect immediately if signed into law, is in the Senate’s education committee.
Superintendents and school leaders know what will or won’t work for their districts and should have a say in the matter. Politicians in Albany should not be deciding for them.
The legislation I have introduced will allow school districts to decide for themselves if they want to or are able to participate in this initiative.
Additionally, I have introduced legislation (S.4504) that would impose an immediate moratorium on unfunded mandates and require that any state-mandated program imposed on municipalities and school districts be funded by the state.
The legislation also would establish a mandate review council to review existing state mandates on local governments and schools. This will help eliminate unnecessary, onerous and burdensome mandates, further easing the fiscal constraints that such policies place on local governments, school districts and taxpayers.
The bill is currently in the Senate’s Standing Committee on Local Government.
