Committee adopts substitute for House Bill 538, approves access for ride-hailing firms and raises driver age limit discussion

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on an executive-session vote adopted a substitute to House Bill 538 and then voted the House committee substitute "do pass," after discussion about two distinct changes: granting transportation network companies (TNCs) access to a student-transportation database used for background checks, and raising the maximum age for school bus drivers from 70 to 75 while moving required certificate renewal for older drivers to a two-year interval.

Committee members adopted a distributed substitute and then adopted the committee substitute on a roll call. The roll call record in the transcript shows multiple members voting both for and against; the committee chair announced a final tally as "by your vote of 79 and 6, no, you have, voted house committee, substitute for house bill 5 38 due pass" (as recorded in the transcript). The transcript also records named votes during the committee roll call: Chairman Lewis (aye), Vice Chairman Vanderman (aye), Representative…