S.B. 291 Student Transportation Amendments

What this bill does

This bill would let students who live within two miles of their school qualify for existing state transportation funding when their walking route is clearly hazardous. It would allow school districts to use that current funding to add a stop, a second bus wave, or a route when safety requires it.

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Every vote

• 2 yes, 2 no, 3 absentSenate Education Committee: Senate vote, which failed · Feb 18, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 18, 2026 Senate Education Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (14 turns)

  1. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:44:10

     So we have one remaining item, Senator Bus, uh, SB 2 91, student transportation amendments. Another bus. Go ahead.

  2. Sen. Emily Buss1:44:29

     Thank you for not making a joke about my last name being passed. I didn't, I, I was tempted, but no. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, SB 2 91 is a straightforward student safety bill. It does not create a new transportation program or acquire, uh, new funding mechanisms. It simply allows students who live within two miles of their school to qualify for existing state transportation funding if their walking route is clearly hazardous. Right now, there's no exemption to the two mile rule. Even when students must cross high speed roads, multiple lane highways or a high crash intersections, districts, uh, have to cover 100% of that cost to bust those students, and many cannot, uh, just because they live too close to the school, even if their life is in danger when they have to walk to school. So this bill defines hazardous routes and allows district to use the current transportation funding to add a qualified stop, uh, a second wave or a route when safety clearly demands it. Um, it just makes these routes or stops qualify for that existing transportation funding, because right now they receive just 0% of that funding, even when students' safety is at risk to get to school. Um, so this just makes 'em eligible for the support that's already in place. And, um, in my district, for example, we have dozens of middle schoolers that have to cross our deadliest road with no light, no crosswalk, no sidewalk, because they live too close. Um, in Granite School District, we have high school and junior high students that have to cross Bangerter Highway with no pedestrian bridge. Um, Cypress High School students have to cross, uh, U one 11 with no pedestrian bridge, um, and Bonneville and Cottonwood Heights students have to cross Van Winkle as well. Um, and for that, I respectfully ask for your support, and I'm happy to take questions. So

  3. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:46:38

     You've got someone online, were they gonna help you present or just help to ask?

  4. Sen. Emily Buss1:46:43

     Oh, he was gonna just speak to, like public comment to it.

  5. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:46:46

     Okay. Okay. Uh, we're gonna come back to the committee for, uh, clarifying questions. Seeing none, we'll go to members of the public. Uh, Zach, uh, go ahead. State your name for the record.

  6. Zach Huish, City Council, Eagle Mountain City1:47:05

     Uh, thank you, committee and chairman. My name is Zach Huish. I'm a resident of Eagle Mountain and recently elected to the city council. And I appreciate Senator Buss, uh, moving this bill forward. Um, recently in the last year, a middle school was built across, uh, SR 73 from where I live. Uh, we live about 1.2 miles from the school. And, uh, SR 73 is, uh, about a 55 mile an hour, uh, freeway. At some point, it will be an expressway. As Eagle Mountain continues to be one of the fastest growing cities in Utah. Uh, my concern when the school was built is how will children cross SR 73 to get through the school, not being eligible for a bus route, which my daughter, uh, falls into that, uh, category. The area of crossing is a, there's an intersection of a, a state road managed by udot, a county road managed by Utah County, and residence, of course, that live in Sage Valley. There was a culvert that was built for a deer crossing, uh, several years ago. So the deer have safe pa passage. Uh, they've been trained to go through the culvert. And when I kept running into, um, dead ends with Udot, uh, with the county and with the city being told it's too expensive to build something for students to safely pass, I wondered, uh, where our priorities were. So we then Uintah Alpine School District several times to have a bus, uh, added to add these 15 middle school kids to, to, uh, safely cross SR 73. And we were told they just didn't have the funds. Um, we made several attempts as citizens to help organize that. We are now, uh, carpooling. Uh, we have several that do cross every morning. Uh, I would say they cross more frequently than, than the deer do, going to school in the morning and coming home in the afternoon. So I, I am grateful for the committee contemplating this bill and thinking of these, uh, situations that, that are real, that do exist. And, um, uh, hopefully these funds can find their way to students that are in our family situation. And, uh, thank you again for letting me make a public comment today.

  7. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:49:22

     Thank you. Any other members of the public like to comment come forward, state your name for the record.

  8. Julie Jackson, resident1:49:34

     My name is Julie Jackson. I'm, uh, I'm here on behalf of myself. Um, I, you know, in, uh, my district, we are having to close schools because we have a declining enrollment. And due to this, we have to make, uh, big decisions about transportation and, um, have to sometimes ask kids to, um, cross busy streets to go to their school. And the number one thing that parents talk to us about when we look at closing a school is, oh my gosh, my child isn't gonna have a safe walking route. And so this is a really big issue. Um, it's so big that it caused me pause, because I think the fiscal note on this could be enormous. And, um, we currently are handling those ourselves. We're paying, you know, uh, I think Ben just said $1.2 million in our, out of our own, you know, not, not reimbursed by the state in order to handle these issues. But it's this question of how do you define what is the hazardous route that is going to be a really hard thing to do. And once you do define it, I think we're going to find that the fiscal note to meet that need is gonna be so high that we're gonna have to figure out where we're gonna pull that fund from. So I, I think that between this bill and also Senator Balderree bill, there's no doubt that transportation is a needs discussion, um, in, in the public sector. I mean, it, it's a pro, it's problematic in the public schools to begin with. Um, which sent, which representative? Busey, I'm sorry, boot bus. Bus, sorry. That's fine. Um, addresses, so I, I wanna speak either in favor nor in opposition, just to bring up the complexities of this, and that this is really gonna be a huge fine fiscal note, and that for districts, you, we need to make sure that we're really defining what a hazardous, um, route is. Thanks.

  9. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:51:42

     Thank you. Anyone else wanna speak to this bill? Seeing none, we're gonna come back to the Committee for action. Senator Baldry, go ahead.

  10. Sen. Heidi Balderree1:51:54

      Uh, if I may make, uh, speak to the bill, I make a motion, please. Sure. So, um, Senator Buss represents, uh, part of the same city that I do, and I definitely understand the hazards there. And I would just, uh, say to the, the last, uh, comment that, let's see what the fiscal note is. If we don't support it, we won't pay for it. And so, um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm not looking to close down conversations or ideas. I think that we ought to be open to exploring this and allowing, you know, we ultimately the legislature will fund it or, or not. Um, but we, we can't just continue to, um, ignore, uh, situations such as this that are a hazard. And so for that reason, I support the bill and make a motion that we support with a favorable recommendation Senate Bill 2 92 91 to the full body of the Senate.

  11. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:52:51

      Okay. So the motion is to recommend SB 2 91 with favorable recommendation to the full body of the Senate. Uh, any discussion of that motion? Seeing none, I'm gonna come back to you to some.

  12. Sen. Emily Buss1:53:08

      Okay. Um, and I would just like to say that I have been working with, um, multiple school districts to get, uh, the, the right, uh, terms to narrow down hazardous for their most dangerous areas so that it's not too broad of a description. Um, and I am working on a substitute to make sure that this does not come out as an unfunded mandate if the appropriations fail to meet the funding threshold. Um, because the local school district, um, a lot of them can't handle paying for that on their own regardless. Um, and so we're, uh, working on a substitute to make it so that the districts can opt into this and, um, not make it a statewide mandate. And I'm just respectfully ask for your support.

  13. Chair Johnson (presiding)1:53:55

      Thank you. So the motion is to, oh, we're gonna come back. Senator Balderree? Always. Okay. So the motion is to send out SB 2 91 student transportation amendments with favorable recommendation. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. So the motion fails. Okay. Motion to adjourn. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And we are adjourned.

  14. Unknown speaker1:54:31speaker not certain

      Um, Sorry about that. I thought the intern said he was presenting.