Tri County Recognizes Senator; Urges Bus Safety Bills
The Tri-County Association for Pupil Transportation met with NY Senator John Bonacic, Assemblywomen Aileen Gunther and Annie Rabbitt on May 4, 2012 to thank them for their support and action on bills that have had a direct impact on the safety of our children who ride the yellow bus.
During the meeting, NYAPT Executive Director, Peter Mannella, presented local Senator John Bonacic (R,C,I-Mt Hope) with its 2011 Legislator of the Year award. This award was presented to Bonacic and to Assemblyman Gary Pretlow of Westchester County, for their work in enacting legislation that greatly expands the list of crimes for which an individual can be disqualified from driving a school bus. That important legislation, long supported by NYAPT, was enacted in 2011. Mannella noted that the Bonacic/Pretlow legislation “ensures that our children are being driven by men and women we can all trust to transport them to school safely.”
The Chapter also highlighted two bills for which NYAPT is advocating –the Gantt/Parker bill (A1178/S5741) that creates an education fund from 1174 penalties and the Rivera/Young bill (A4416/S4062) that, among other things, allows for photographic evidence to be used in prosecuting illegal passers. NYAPT is also supporting Bonacic’s bill S3099-A and its companion A8191 by Assemblyman Rivera which would allow for license suspensions for repeat offenders of Section 1174.
Pictured here (L to R): Louise Stewart, Safety Supervisor Monroe Woodbury CSD/Vice-President, Tri-County Assoc. for Pupil Transportation, Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt, Delos Luther, Transportation Director, Minisink Valley CSD/President, Tri-County APT., Senator John Bonacic, Dawn Russell, Director of Transportation, Warwick Valley CSD/Treasurer, Tri-County APT, Debra Weissman, Dispatcher, Warwick Valley CSD/Secretary, Tri-County APT, Peter Mannella, Executive Director, NY Association for Pupil Transportation.
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