Pupil transportation: transportation network companies: Public Utilities Commission: safety standards: exemptions.

The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act provides for regulation of charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission, subject to specific exclusions, including the transportation of school pupils conducted by or under contract with the governing board of any school district, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of the act is a crime. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to regulate transportation network companies, as provided. This bill would explicitly state that the Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act applies to transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a local educational agency, and would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to regulate transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a local educational agency. By expanding the application of the Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, the bill would expand a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, imposes various requirements upon a driver who provides school-related pupil transportation for compensation and is employed by a local educational agency, contracted by a local educational agency, or contracted by any entity with funding from a local educational agency, including, among others, requirements related to criminal background checks, possession of a satisfactory driving record, compliance with drug and alcohol testing, training, and maintenance of a daily log sheet, as provided. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, requires a local educational agency contracting with a private entity to provide pupil transportation to obtain from the private entity a written attestation that, among other things, only drivers who meet those requirements work, or will work, under the contract between the private entity and local educational agency, as provided. This bill would exempt from the above-described requirements, until July 1, 2027, a contract to provide transportation services for pupils between (1) a local educational agency and (2) a transportation network company that complies with specified safety standards for transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors adopted by the Public Utilities Commission, as provided. The bill would also exempt from the above-described requirements, until July 1, 2027, a driver who provides transportation services for pupils pursuant to that contract, as provided. The bill would require, as a condition of that exemption, the transportation network company to be able to fulfill requests for transportation services for pupils within as few as 24 hours of receiving notification from the local educational agency pursuant to that contract, as provided. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.