AB 2362 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Pupil transportation.

Summary

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to provide for the transportation of pupils to and from school whenever, in the judgment of the governing board, the transportation is advisable and good reasons exist to do so. Existing law requires a driver employed by a local educational agency, contracted by a local educational agency, or contracted by any entity with funding from a local educational agency, who provides school-related pupil transportation for compensation to be subject to specified requirements including, among others, having a satisfactory driving record, as provided. Existing law exempts from these requirements a school employee when the employee provides transportation to pupils due to or because of the employee's supervision of pupils for a field trip, extracurricular activity, or athletic program, or when the employee provides transportation to pupils for other activities, not to exceed 40 hours of drive time per school year per employee. This bill would, for a local educational agency with fewer than 2,500 units of average daily attendance and a frontier school district, as defined, set that limit at 200 hours of drive time instead of 40 hours. The bill would, contingent upon an appropriation, establish the Rural Transportation Safety Grant Program to provide funding to small and rural local educational agencies for costs associated with training, inspections, and compliance with, among other things, the above-described driver requirements.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 19, 2026 Last action Apr 15, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/23/26 - Amended Assembly → 04/06/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Apr 6, 2026

MODERATE

The April 6 amendment restructures AB 2362 by separating the field trip/extracurricular/athletic transportation exemption from the general 'other activities' exemption in Section 39875, giving each its own distinct conditions and hour limits. It also changes the appropriation and fiscal committee designations from 'no' to 'yes,' reflecting that the Rural Transportation Safety Grant Program now carries an appropriation request. The prior legislative intent statement about enacting subsequent legislation was removed.

ELIGIBILITY

Section 39875(d) is split: the field trip, extracurricular, and athletic program exemption now stands alone with its own two conditions (reasonable effort to secure a qualified driver and notice to parents), while 'other activities' transportation moves to a new subdivision (e) with only the hour-based limit and no reasonable-effort or parent-notice conditions.

FISCAL

The bill's appropriation designation changes from 'no' to 'yes' and the fiscal committee designation changes from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the Rural Transportation Safety Grant Program now carries an actual appropriation request rather than being purely subject to future appropriation.

SCOPE

The section stating 'It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation relating to pupil transportation' is removed, eliminating the forward-looking legislative statement about future related bills.

TECHNICAL

The bill's sections are reordered so that the new Section 39875.5 (rural activity driver authorization) appears first, followed by the amended Section 39875, then Section 39881.5 (grant program).

02/19/26 - Introduced → 03/23/26 - Amended Assembly · 10 edits · Mar 23, 2026

MAJOR

AB 2362 was transformed from a simple legislative intent statement into a comprehensive pupil transportation framework. The amended bill restructures driver requirements and exemptions in Education Code Section 39875, creates a new 'rural activity driver authorization' for small and rural school districts, and establishes a Rural Transportation Safety Grant Program to fund compliance costs. The changes primarily benefit small and rural local educational agencies that struggle to meet standard driver qualification requirements.

SCOPE

The bill was expanded from a single-section intent statement into a three-section bill amending Section 39875 and adding Sections 39875.5 and 39881.5 to the Education Code, creating an entirely new regulatory framework for pupil transportation drivers.

New Section 39875.5 creates a 'rural activity driver authorization' available to LEAs with fewer than 2,500 ADA or frontier school districts. It allows employees or registered volunteers to transport pupils in vehicles with a maximum capacity of 10 or fewer persons to curricular or extracurricular events (not home-to-school), provided they meet requirements including being at least 21, having a satisfactory driving record, passing a criminal records check, completing first aid training, and completing four hours of specific training covering defensive driving, pupil supervision, disability accommodations, accident handling, and inclement weather operations.

ELIGIBILITY

The school employee exemption from driver requirements no longer has a 40-hour drive time limit for field trips, extracurricular activities, or athletic programs. The 40-hour limit is retained only for 'other activities,' and is raised to 200 hours (or an amount approved by the governing board) for LEAs with fewer than 2,500 average daily attendance and frontier school districts.

Multiple new exemptions from driver requirements were added, including for drivers employed by municipally owned transit systems, congregate care facilities, county human services agencies, homeless service entities, county probation agencies, other government agencies, foster family agencies, and tribal authorities. Additional exemptions cover parents/relatives, guardians, caregivers, court-appointed educational rights holders, court-appointed special advocates, and pupils driving themselves.

New emergency exemptions were added for medical or psychiatric emergencies, natural disasters (fire, flood, earthquake, epidemic), military orders related to war, and immediate threats to pupil physical safety. The epidemic exemption is limited to one month per epidemic. A separate exemption allows Foster Youth Services Coordinating Programs to transport pupils for up to one month while a transportation plan is being finalized.

A new exemption was added for field trips where the destination is more than 200 miles from the pupil's California school campus, exempting the driver from article requirements during that trip.

REQUIREMENT

New conditions apply before a school employee can transport pupils under the exemption: the LEA must make a reasonable effort to secure a qualified driver, and if unable to do so, must inform the parent, guardian, or court-appointed educational rights holder that the driver does not meet requirements (unless notice would jeopardize pupil privacy).

Vehicles used under the rural activity driver authorization must undergo an annual safety inspection at a Bureau of Automotive Repair licensed facility, or by an ASE-certified district/county mechanic if the nearest licensed facility is more than 90 miles away. LEAs must maintain records of all authorizations, inspections, and training for department review.

ENFORCEMENT

Drivers under the rural activity driver authorization are prohibited from transporting pupils if the route exceeds 200 road miles one way, if they have driven any vehicle for 10 or more hours in the preceding 24-hour period, or if they are contracted as a commercial driver (though they may receive ordinary wages or a modest stipend).

FISCAL

New Section 39881.5 establishes the Rural Transportation Safety Grant Program to provide funding to small and rural LEAs for costs associated with training, inspections, and compliance. The program is subject to appropriation by the Legislature and administered by the superintendent of public instruction.

Floor votes

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No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

lower

Apr 7, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Apr 6, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 24, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on ED. and TRANS.

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors