A.  The purpose of this Section shall be to assist city and parish school boards in providing school bus transportation by facilitating the acquisition of new and used school buses by school bus operators.  The legislature hereby declares that the purchase of school buses by school boards and the resale thereof to school bus operators in order to facilitate such acquisition is a public purpose.

B.  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, especially La. Rev. Stat. 49:125 and La. Rev. Stat. 42:1113, each city and parish school board is hereby authorized to purchase school buses and to resell such buses to any school bus operator employed by the board or with whom the board has contracted to provide transportation services for students.  Any such school bus shall be used by the operator to transport students on the operator’s assigned bus route.

C.  Any school bus resold pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall be sold only after the city or parish school board has complied with the following procedure:

(1)  The school board shall obtain two written appraisals of the fair market value of the bus subject to the sale.

(2)  Publication of notice of intent of the school board to sell the bus at private sale shall have been made in the official journal of the board at least fifteen days prior to the date of sale.

(3)  No sale shall be for less than the average value contained in the appraisals obtained pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 17:158.2(C)(1).

D.  Any school bus used to transport students, including an activity or backup  bus, shall not be more than twenty-five years old.  Any school bus  used as an activity or backup bus, at the time it is acquired by the owner and placed in service, shall be fifteen or fewer model years old.  The number of years shall be reckoned from the date of introduction of the model year.

E.  Any school bus used as an activity or backup bus that is older than fifteen model years shall not be used more than sixty consecutive school days in a school year.

Added by Acts 1982, No. 67, §1, eff. July 11, 1982.  Acts 1984, No. 154, §1; Acts 2014, No. 257, §1.