Legal Focus

Committees are a critical component of every non-profit’s ability to get work done, achieve goals, and develop future leaders. The bylaws of all non-profits should identify the Standing Committees” that form the non-profit’s functional foundation. The bylaws should also have a process for establishing additional “Variable Committees” to address issues and needs that are equally important, but not necessarily foundational. Finally, the bylaws should also empower committees to establish “Sub...

As school transportation contractors know, the transportation industry is heavily regulated by federal agencies. For the last forty years, federal agencies and courts interpreting statutes to be administered by a federal agency were guided by the decision in the United States Supreme Court Case, Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Counse,, 467 U.S. 837. However, a recent Supreme Court case has shook up this longstanding framework, which could have lasting implications for regulatory agen...

As school transportation contractors begin to settle in with the 2024-2025 school year, some may be facing new routing challenges. Among these challenges may be school districts requesting that you transport students, whose parents have separated, to and from different residential locations. In some cases, school districts might be asked to transport these students outside of the school district. In such cases, you may be wondering what responsibilities all parties have. Continue reading for a d...

As school transportation contractors begin to settle in for the 2024-2025 school year, many are faced with new challenges that were not present in the previous school year. Among these challenges may be your school district requesting that you provide transportation for a student residing in another school district that is much further from your current district, which could mean crossing state lines to pick up the student. As transportation contractors know, students that live far from school c...

As you may have heard, a proposal has been made by the Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III on the basis that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use and does not have the same level of abuse potential or level of physical or psychological dependence as other Schedule I drugs, consistent with the Department of Health and Human Services views on marijuana. The DEA filed a No...

School bus contractors must assure their drivers obtain clearances, including that their employees have Pennsylvania State Police (“PSP”) Background Checks performed.  Multiple laws dictate when and how often a driver must complete a PSP background check and it can get confusing. However, contractors should know that drivers only need to obtain a pre-employment background and renew it every two (2) years if they are performing Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PUC”) runs in vehicles t...

School bus contractors are required to comply with many laws and regulations to ensure legal compliance for their operations. Federal Motor Carrier laws and regulations and state Department of Transportation regulations are normally at the forefront of the minds of contractors. However, other laws that apply to the operations of contractors but are not necessarily transportation-related often get overlooked. One such law is the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which many contractors must comply with w...