ALBANY, N.Y. (WCAX) – A group of lawmakers in New York is hoping to pump the brakes on the state’s electric school bus mandate.
School districts currently have about three years before all new bus purchases are required to be electric or zero-emission, and just over 10 years to convert their entire fleet. A proposed bill would remove the mandate and create a feasibility study looking at the costs of bus conversions in urban and rural areas.
Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, supports the bill, saying costs and winter storage make it difficult to meet those EV deadlines. “I think the cost will go down once manufacturing gets rolling but we are not there yet.,” he said.
About $500 million from the Environmental Bond Act is being allocated to school districts to help pay for the costs but some GOP lawmakers say the actual price tag is around $20 billion.
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GOP lawmakers push back against New York EV bus mandate