SECURES Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to publish, within 180 days of enactment, a notice of proposed rulemaking on new federal standards for school bus seat belt requirements on all new school buses, regardless of gross vehicle weight rating. In that rulemaking, DOT must consider safety benefits of lap/shoulder belt systems, NTSB conclusions that lap/shoulder belts provide the highest protection and reduce upper-body flailing injuries, the 2015 NHTSA Administrator statement that every child on every school bus should have a three-point seat belt, innovative seat-belt detection, reminder, and violation alert systems, and experience from states that already require school bus seat belts.
Who Benefits and How
School bus passengers and parents benefit from a federal process that could lead to three-point seat-belt standards on new school buses. Seat belt suppliers and school bus manufacturers with compliant designs may benefit from demand for lap/shoulder belts, detection systems, reminders, and violation-alert technology. NHTSA and NTSB safety findings receive a defined regulatory forum.
Who Bears the Burden and How
DOT and NHTSA must conduct the proposed rulemaking and evaluate safety evidence, state experience, and technology options. School bus manufacturers and school districts could face future design, procurement, installation, and cost burdens if the rulemaking results in mandatory seat-belt standards for new buses.
Key Provisions
- Requires DOT to publish a school-bus seat-belt proposed rule within 180 days of enactment.
- Covers all new school buses regardless of gross vehicle weight rating.
- Requires consideration of lap/shoulder belt safety benefits, NTSB conclusions, the 2015 NHTSA three-point-belt statement, detection and reminder technology, violation alerts, and state experience.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires the Transportation Department to issue a proposed rule within 180 days considering new federal school-bus seat-belt standards for all new school buses regardless of vehicle weight.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Public Safety, Education
Primary Purpose
Requires the Transportation Department to issue a proposed rule within 180 days considering new federal school-bus seat-belt standards for all new school buses regardless of vehicle weight.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- School bus passengers
- Parents
- Seat belt suppliers
- School bus manufacturers
- National Transportation Safety Board
Identified Costs
- Department of Transportation
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- School bus manufacturers
- School districts
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Mr. Gottheimer (for himself and Mr. Lawler) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
School bus manufacturers, Seat belt suppliers
Positive-direction: Seat belt suppliers
Negative-direction: School bus manufacturers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "ntsb"
- → National Transportation Safety Board
- "nhtsa"
- → National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Transportation
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A three-point school-bus seat-belt system considered in the rulemaking.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology