The Department of Education, together with the Department of Transportation and Public Works and the Public Service Commission, shall adopt and enforce regulations according to the provisions of this chapter regarding the transportation of students on all buses or school buses.
Provided, That such regulations shall require, without it being construed as a limitation, that the operators of such vehicles be of legal age, that they do not appear in the Register of Persons Convicted of Sex Offenses and Child Abuse, created by virtue of §§ 536 et seq. of Title 4, and have provided the Public Service Commission with a Negative Criminal Record issued by the Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police. Likewise, they shall submit every year to a drug screening test to be regulated by said Commission. Likewise, the Secretary shall require to all persons engaged in rendering school transportation services a certification of having taken a course on safe student transportation. Said course shall be offered by the Department of Transportation and Public Works or by private entities authorized by the Department, which shall regulate all that pertains to offering such course. In addition, they must take a first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation course. Said course shall be offered by the State Emergency Management Agency or the Medical Emergencies Administration, or the agency with which the Public Service Commission coordinates the same at a nominal cost.
Any person operating a bus or school bus under contract with the Department of Education who fails to comply with any of said regulations shall be guilty of breach of contract and said contract shall have to be cancelled after the responsible official has notified said person about the holding of a hearing.
Any person operating a bus or school bus who is not under contract with the Department of Education, and who violates any of the provisions of said regulations, shall incur a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
History —Jan. 7, 2000, No. 22, § 21.06, renumbered as § 20.06 and amended on June 3, 2004, No. 132, §§ 17, 21; May 11, 2010, No. 50, § 1.