A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require regular school bus drivers to be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and to provide funds to implement the requirement.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑245 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑245.  School bus drivers; monitors; safety assistants.
(a)	Each local board, which elects to operate a school bus transportation system, shall employ the necessary drivers for such school buses. The drivers shall have all qualifications prescribed by the regulations of the State Board of Education herein provided for and must be at least 18 years old and have at least six months driving experience as a licensed operator of a motor vehicle before employment as a regular or substitute driver, but the selection and employment of each driver shall be made by the local board of education, and the driver shall be the employee of such local school administrative unit. 
(a1)	Each local board of education shall ensure that regular school bus drivers employed by the local board complete and maintain cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. A regular school bus driver who completes and maintains CPR training by enrolling in a CPR training course offered by a North Carolina community college shall have the cost of tuition and fees for the course waived in accordance with G.S. 115D‑5(b)(10). The local board of education shall also provide compensation to regular school bus drivers for the time required to complete a CPR course offered by a community college or any other entity selected by the regular school bus driver to meet the requirements of this subsection. In its discretion, a local board of education may cover the cost of a CPR course completed with an entity other than a North Carolina community college.
(a2)	Each local board of education shall assign the bus drivers employed by it to the respective schools within the jurisdiction of such board, and the superintendent or superintendent's designee shall assign the drivers to the school buses to be driven by them. No school bus shall at any time be driven or operated by any person other than the bus driver assigned to such bus except by the express direction of the superintendent or superintendent's designee or in accordance with rules and regulations of the appropriate local board of education.
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SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community Colleges System Office the sum of one million one hundred thousand dollars ($1,100,000) for the 2017‑2018 fiscal year to be used for the cost of the waiver of tuition and fees for regular school bus drivers enrolled in CPR training courses at community colleges pursuant to G.S. 115C‑245(a1), as amended by this act.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of one million three hundred thousand dollars ($1,300,000) in recurring funds for the 2017‑2018 fiscal year to be allocated to local school administrative units to be used for compensating regular school bus drivers for the time required to complete CPR training pursuant to G.S. 115C‑245(a1).
SECTION 4.  Notwithstanding G.S. 115C‑245(a1), all regular school bus drivers employed by local boards of education shall be required to have completed initial CPR training beginning with the 2018‑2019 school year.
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2017.