SENATE, No. 2357

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

AN ACT TO IMPROVE SCHOOL CAMPUS AIR QUALITY

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.   Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 75.  There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Environmental Education Fund.  Amounts credited to the fund, including any state, federal or private funds received through fine collection, appropriation, gift or grant shall be expended, subject to appropriation, by the executive office of energy and environmental affairs to establish a school district grant program consisting of an amount to be determined annually by the secretary of energy and environmental affairs.  The program shall support environmental education initiatives in school districts throughout the commonwealth. 

SECTION 2. Section 37H of chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence the following sentence: - Said policies shall further prohibit operators of school buses and personal motor vehicles, including students, faculty, staff and visitors, from idling such vehicles on school grounds, as prohibited by section 16B of chapter 90.

SECTION 3.  Chapter 90 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 16A the following section: -

Section 16B.  (a)  For the purposes of this section, the term “school grounds” shall mean in or on, or within one thousand feet of the real property comprising a public or private accredited preschool, accredited headstart facility, elementary, vocational, or secondary school whether or not in session, and parking lots, athletic fields and playgrounds used for school purposes or functions which are owned by the city, town or school district, regardless of proximity to a school building.

Lack of knowledge of school boundaries shall not be a defense to any person who violates the provisions of this section.

(b) The registrar of motor vehicles, in consultation with the department of education, the executive office of energy and environmental affairs, and the executive office of health and human services, shall adopt regulations to implement this section.  Such regulations shall include, but not be limited to, establishing the length of time an operator may idle an engine before such idling becomes prolonged, and the limited circumstances under which the prolonged idling of an engine is permitted, including periods necessary to operate defrosting, heating or cooling equipment to ensure the health or safety of a driver or passengers or to operate auxiliary equipment and periods during which the engine is undergoing maintenance or inspection. Such regulations shall prohibit an operator of a school bus from idling a school bus engine while waiting for children to board or exit a bus on school grounds and from starting a school bus engine for any unnecessary period of time in advance of leaving the school grounds. 

The registry of motor vehicles shall notify all individuals certified and endorsed to be school bus drivers as to the provisions of this section during the annual certification process.

(c)  Notwithstanding section 16A, no person shall cause, suffer, allow or permit the prolonged idling of a motor vehicle engine on school property in violation of registry of motor vehicle regulations relative thereto.   An operator or owner of a motor vehicle who violates this section shall be subject to a civil assessment of $100 for the first violation and $500 for a second or subsequent violation.  The proceeds of such fine shall be deposited annually, not later than June 30, by the court with the state treasurer into the Environmental Education Fund, established in section 75 of chapter 10.