School bus trespass penalty proposed for unauthorized persons trying to board

Rep. Eric Lucero (R-Dayton) drove a school bus for a time in the late-1990s. A bill he sponsors would provide help to those who now transport children.

HF1601 would create a trespass penalty when an unauthorized person boards a bus on its route or otherwise in operation with students on board and refuses to leave when asked to do so. It would not apply to “a pupil, school employee, or volunteer authorized to be on the school bus.”

Eastern Carver County Schools Transportation Director John Thomas testifies for HF1601 to expand the crime of trespass to include trespassing on a school bus. Sponsored by Rep. Eric Lucero, right, the bill was held over March 9. Photo by Paul Battaglia

The bill was held over Thursday by the House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee for possible omnibus bill inclusion. A companion, SF1339, sponsored by Sen. Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

“Presently, school bus drivers don’t have the authority to tell somebody to not come onto a bus, thereby it being a trespass,” Lucero said. He doesn’t foresee a driver physically stopping someone, but said his bill would “empower” them to call law enforcement. He said they might do it now, but a trespass crime could not be tagged on an offender.

John Thomas, transportation director for Eastern Carver County Schools, said this becoming more of a problem both locally and nationally. For example, he said two weeks ago in his district a parent got on a bus to confront a driver.

“Anytime this situation happens we have to look for laws that are even more extreme and take more time, like public nuisance or, obviously, physical harm and things like that,” he said. “It would be very important to us and extremely helpful to us to have trespassing be available to us.”