Legislation would require seat belts on school buses

COLUMBUS

The death of a kindergarten student in school bus accident has prompted an Ohio House committee to move legislation requiring seat belts in all new buses.

The House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously moved House Bill 448 for consideration by the full house of representatives, which has not yet taken up the issue.

Rep. Kathleen Chandler, a Democrat from Kent, has offered the bill several times in recent years, but lawmakers have not passed it.

The legislation would require all new or refurbished school buses to have seat belts and shoulder harnesses by 2014, Chandler said. It would not require existing buses to be retrofitted.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Vindicator or vindy.com