(a) The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, establishing a procedure for the safety training of school bus operators and operators of student transportation vehicles. Such regulations shall provide for minimum proficiency requirements for school bus operators. The safety training administered by the commissioner shall conform to the minimum requirements of number 17 of the National Highway Safety Standards. Such safety training shall include instruction relative to the location, contents and use of the first aid kit in the motor vehicle. A class or classroom instruction may be offered in person in a congregate setting, through distance learning or through a combination of both in-person and distance learning, provided such distance learning has interactive components such as mandatory interactions, participation or testing.

(b) No person shall operate a school bus, as defined in § 14-275, or a student transportation vehicle, as defined in § 14-212, for the purpose of transporting school children unless such person has prior to the issuance or renewal of such person’s license endorsement: (1) Furnished evidence to the satisfaction of the commissioner that such person meets the physical qualification standards established in 49 C.F.R. § part 391, as amended from time to time; and (2) successfully completed a course in safety training and, in the case of school bus operators, passed an examination in proficiency in school bus operation given by the commissioner. Such proficiency examination shall include a road test administered in either a type I school bus having a gross vehicle weight exceeding ten thousand pounds or a type II school bus having a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or less. Any operator administered a road test in a type II school bus shall not be eligible for a license to operate a type I school bus. Any person who violates any provision of this subsection shall be deemed to have committed an infraction.

(c) Any town or regional school district may require its school bus operators to have completed a safety training course in the operation of school buses, consisting of a minimum of ten hours of behind-the-wheel instruction and three hours of classroom instruction. Classroom instruction shall include instruction offered in person in a congregate setting, through distance learning or through a combination of both in-person and distance learning, provided such distance learning has interactive components such as mandatory interactions, participation or testing.

(d) A carrier shall require each person whom it intends to employ to operate a school bus, as defined in § 14-275, or a student transportation vehicle, as defined in § 14-212, to submit to a urinalysis drug test in accordance with the provisions of sections 31-51v and 31-51w and shall require each person it employs to operate such vehicles to submit to a urinalysis drug test on a random basis in accordance with the provisions of § 31-51x and the standards set forth in 49 CFR Parts 382 and 391. No carrier may employ any person who has received a positive test result for such test which was confirmed as provided in subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of § 31-51u. No carrier may continue to employ as a driver, for two years, any person who has received a positive test result for such test which was confirmed as provided in subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of § 31-51u. No carrier may continue to employ as a driver, permanently, any person who has received a second positive test result for such test which was confirmed as provided in subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of § 31-51u. The commissioner may, after notice and hearing, impose a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for the first offense and two thousand five hundred dollars for each subsequent offense on any carrier which violates any provision of this subsection.