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Lawmakers Consider Broad Measures to Ease School Bus Driver Shortages; Chiropractors Seek Role in Driver Medical Exams
Summary
Witnesses urged the Joint Committee on Transportation to remove job-search requirements for school bus drivers collecting unemployment, to extend a federal temporary exception for under-the-hood CDL testing, and to add chiropractors to the list of professionals who may perform required school bus medical exams.
Multiple witnesses told the Joint Committee on Transportation that state rules and federal exceptions are needed to address school bus driver shortages and administrative barriers.
Jim Marks, representing Teamsters Local 70, urged the committee to report House Bill 3715 favorably. The bill would eliminate the requirement that school bus drivers apply for unrelated work while collecting unemployment during summer recess if they expect to return to work within 12 weeks. “H 3715 seeks to eliminate the requirement for work searches, if the school bus driver knows they will be returning to work within 12 weeks,” Marks said, adding that neighboring states have implemented similar exceptions, including New Hampshire’s 11-week exemption.
Representative Priscilla Souza urged action on a separate bill (H 3787 in testimony) to make the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent temporary relaxation of under-the-hood CDL testing permanent for school-bus-only applicants. Souza told the committee the FMCSA issued a two-year exception on July 16, 2025, allowing less extensive under-the-hood testing for applicants working exclusively as school-bus drivers; she asked the committee to pursue a state-level change so the exemption can be renewed or extended beyond two years.
Separately, chiropractors and allied witnesses asked the committee to amend state language that currently omits “licensed chiropractor” from the Registry of Motor Vehicles’ list of professionals allowed to complete school-bus medical certificates. Doctor Kirk Schultz and other chiropractors said they have completed federal Certified Medical Examiner training and routinely perform DOT medical exams, and they urged adding chiropractors to the statute so they can certify school-bus drivers in Massachusetts. "We just need the words 'licensed chiropractor' ... to be able to certify the school bus drivers," one chiropractor testified.
Committee members asked clarifying questions but took no votes during the hearing.
