Senator Yakawich presents bill to require human‑trafficking awareness training for school bus drivers

Senator Mike Yakawich presented Senate Bill 245 to the Montana House Transportation Committee, describing the measure as an "extra eyes on the kids" bill that would add human‑trafficking awareness training for school bus drivers without adding local cost.

"I like to call this, extra eyes on the kids bill," Senator Yakawich said, saying the proposal would educate bus drivers to recognize potential signs of trafficking and help prevent exploitation.

Yakawich told the committee he has worked in the human‑trafficking field for more than 15 years and said the bill would not add instructional hours but instead ask the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) and the Board of Education to carve roughly 40 minutes out of the existing 15 hours of driver education for a short, no‑cost online course. He said participants would receive a certificate of completion and that the Truckers Against Trafficking online course is an example of a resource being discussed.

The senator said the course takes about 30 minutes and that the bill was developed with input from OPI, the Board of Education, local school districts (including School District 2), bus driver associations and the Yellowstone County human‑trafficking task force. Yakawich also said the school bus standards handbook already addresses safety, emergency procedures and sensitivity topics that the bill would complement.

Yakawich handed committee staff a printed handout and emphasized the measure is intended to be low‑cost to districts: "We're not asking for any more hours. We're asking that OPI and the Board of Education would carve out 40 minutes from the 15 hours for education," he said.

The transcript shows the presentation and the distribution of materials but records no committee vote or formal action on the measure during this session. The item therefore remains at the committee presentation stage in the transcript.