Hale's bus safety bill heads to governor's desk

Frankfort, Kentucky (March 31, 2026) – Members of the General Assembly took action to improve safety for Kentucky children entering and exiting school buses with final passage of House Bill 7. Sponsored by Representative David Hale of Wellington, the measure would allow school districts to use camera monitoring systems on school buses to enforce a civil penalty against cars that are recorded passing a school bus with a deployed stop arm and allow school districts to contract with a private vendor or manufacturer to install, operate, and maintain them.

“We have all seen the videos and heard the reports of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses, creating dangerous near misses and posing a serious risk to children,” said Hale. “House Bill 7 would make it easier for school districts and law enforcement to hold distracted and careless drivers accountable for their actions.”

Under HB 7, stop arm camera violations could be enforced by a law enforcement agency, a certified peace officer, or school resource officer upon review of the recorded images produced by the camera monitoring system. Importantly, several safeguards would be in place to protect drivers’ privacy, such as allowing cameras to record only when a stop arm is deployed, limiting access to recorded images to authorized personnel for the purpose of enforcing stop arm camera violations, and creating a process and timeline to destroy recorded images.

Senator Greg Elkins of Winchester, who carried the measure in the Senate, said, “The most dangerous moments in a child’s day are often the simplest when, they step onto the bus in the morning and when they step off to come home. I’ve worked on this issue for several sessions because protecting students during those critical moments is too important to ignore. I appreciate Representative Hale’s leadership in moving this bill forward and helping get it across the finish line. House Bill 7 is a commonsense step to hold drivers accountable and help ensure every child gets to and from school safely.”

Violations would result in a civil penalty of $300 for the first offense and $500 for each subsequent offense issued to an owner of the vehicle within a three-year period, with no points being assessed against the individual’s driving record. Vehicle owners who believe they were wrongly cited could contest the violation in district court. If a stop arm camera violation civil penalty is not paid or contested within 60 days, the applicable law enforcement agency or officer would be allowed to notify the Transportation Cabinet of the nonpayment. Upon notice of nonpayment, the cabinet would be required to send notice of suspension and suspend the registration of the motor vehicle until the civil penalty is paid.

“Final passage of House Bill 7 is a meaningful step toward curbing illegal school bus passing incidents and keeping children safe as they get on and off school buses across Kentucky,” Hale added. 

HB 7 passed the Senate with a change via Senate Committee Substitute 1. The House concurred with the change, sending the bill to the Governor for consideration. For more information on HB 7 and to keep track of its progress, please click here or visit legislature.ky.gov.