Medical Marijuana Re-Scheduling Announced
The Dept of Justice’ has announced its plans to reschedule Marijuana in certain circumstances and purposes. It appears to relate primarily to marijuana used in medical research and similar purposes. This has been pursued for several years by those seeking increased use of the substance for medical objectives.
In 2024, when DOJ and the Drug Enforcement Agency proposed a similar rescheduling, NAPT offered official comments to the Federal Register docket. While we didn’t opine on the wisdom or benefits of the move, we urged the agencies to create a carve-out of sorts to ensure that FMCSA-required drug and alcohol testing regimens were not affected. This was due to our understanding that our drug testing screens for Schedule I substances that have included marijuana and that reducing it to Schedule III would take the drug out of the screening process.
We are hopeful that DOJ and FMCSA will come to a resolution on this and, in fact, Molly Mcgee Hewitt and Peter Mannella discussed this with FMCSA officials recently in our nation’s capital.
In light of this news, we have reached out to our colleagues at FMCSA to try to ascertain the extent to which they think this impact drug testing rules and practices.
NAPT has reached out to other stakeholders subject to drug and alcohol testing and we will stay on top of this issue and keep you, our members, informed.
NTSB Recommends School Bus Alcohol-Detection Systems
On March 4, 2024, a school bus carrying 19 passengers and the driver was driving down a West Virginia highway at 5:55 PM.
Per the NTSB report: “As the driver navigated a left-hand curve, the bus departed the right side of the paved roadway and entered an earthen drainage channel with a culvert along the right side of the road. The right-front tire struck the end of the culvert; the bus then struck a fence and began to yaw counterclockwise as it reentered the roadway. The right-rear tire struck the culvert, and the bus rolled a quarter turn onto its right side before coming to rest across both lanes of SH-16. Three students on the bus sustained serious injuries, 16 students sustained minor injuries, and the driver was not injured.”
In its findings, the NTSB stated the following:
“We (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the Millstone, West Virginia, crash was the school bus driver’s alcohol impairment resulting in his loss of vehicle control and the school bus’s roadway departure and rollover. Contributing to the severity of the passenger injuries was the lack of passenger lap/shoulder belts on the large school bus.”
The NTSB made a recommendation to NHTSA to: “Require that all new school buses be equipped with a vehicle-integrated alcohol detection system capable of preventing or limiting vehicle operation if driver impairment by alcohol is detected.”
They further recommended to the State of West Virginia to equip school buses with lap-shoulder belts and to require their use by all students.
NAPT has contacted our colleagues at the NTSB to explore these recommendations and to gather more information to share with you, our members. Our NAPT Public Policy Committee will be discussing this report and considering reactions to its recommendations and next steps.
For now, see links from the NTSB website:
Press release:
NTSB Calls for Alcohol Detection Systems in School Buses and Renews Call for Student Seat Belts
Full Report:
Investigation Report
And the Price of Diesel? Availability?
What’s the Issue?
In recent weeks since the commencement of the conflict with Iran, the price of fuels has risen dramatically. It is unclear how long the conflict will go on thus making it unclear how long prices will remain high or how high they might rise.
The cost of diesel as well as the availability could have significant effects on school transportation and school budgets.
What Do We Know?
Some sources say that diesel prices are at $5.40 per gallon nationally, about a 45% increase per the NY Times. One report cites that price at $5.75 per gallon, with a high in California of $7.00 per gallon. With school budgets being finalized in these late spring months, the rise in prices needs to be considered whether for district-operated or contracted.
Moreover, while the USA produces a significant amount of diesel daily, we understand that a great amount of diesel fuel is refined and shipped out of the Persian Gulf. This is largely because the oil produced there is more suited to diesel and jet fuel, thereby making the current blockade of the Strait of Hormuz a key concern.
Clearly, there are a complex series of factors at play here and we need to understand that and be attentive to the markets and to the signals of our suppliers of fuels for school buses, whether diesel or gasoline.
It comes as no surprise that advocates for electric and alternate powered buses are eager to engage in the debate in the face of what could become a larger crisis.
What’s Next?
Members are encouraged to explore all the options at their disposal with your superintendents, business officials and school boards.
NAPT will continue to monitor these developments with our colleagues in the bus and trucking industries, federal agencies, and other stakeholders. We are also in contact with our partners at AASA (the Superintendents’ Association) and ASBO-International to frame up our advocacy and press opportunities on these issues.