The Land of 10,000 Lakes is moving to crack down on motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses with new legislation aimed at enhancing the state’s current law that a Minnesota appeals court saw a loophole in.

S.F. No. 3623 seeks to amend Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 169.444, subdivision 1, the state law on the safety of schoolchildren and the duty of motorists in school zones, to enforce stricter rules for approaching school buses. It heads to the desk of Gov. Tim Walz for signature.

The bill would continue to require motorists to stop at least 20 feet away from a school bus, but only with its red lights flashing, removing language mentioning federally mandated stop arms. This is due to a motorist’s appeal of an illegal passing conviction that made its way to the Minnesota Court of Appeals last year.

In that case, motorist Allison Waln challenged her conviction by arguing that the school bus video evidence showed the stop arm was not fully extended. The appellate court ruled in her favor in September due to ambiguity of how the law defined the word extended.

“In sum, we hold that the plain meaning of the term extended, as used in Minn. Stat. § 169.444, subd. 1, requires a school bus’ stop-signal arm to be fully stretched out before an approaching driver must stop,” the court found.

Legislating a Fix

This led legislators to try and close the loophole by rewriting the traffic code to reinforce that the flashing amber lights notify motorists that the school bus will begin loading or unloading students. The legislation adds language to the state law that motorists must prepare to come to a complete stop when they see the pre-warning flashing amber lights on school buses, which signals drivers that the bus is preparing to stop and activate its red flashing lights. Under the bill, vehicles must not encroach within 20 feet of a school bus when those amber lights are flashing, reinforcing the need for caution in school zones.

The bill also prohibits vehicles from moving until the stop arm is retracted and the red lights stop flashing by replacing the previous language of “shall stop” with “must stop.”

S.F. No. 3623 advanced quickly through the legislative process. Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart introduced the bill, which was referred to the Transportation Committee on the same day, Feb. 17. The committee recommended the bill for passage Feb. 26, and it underwent a second reading. The bill passed its third reading in the Senate March 9 by a vote of 19-7. The House unanimously passed the bill Monday by a vote of 133-0.

The bill would go into effect as law the day after its final enactment rather than the normal date of Aug. 1 for passed and signed legislation.

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Iowa started the new year with new and controversial school bus driver training courses.

House File 395 revises requirements for training and certification of school bus drivers in the state. It updates the criteria for what constitutes as an approved course of instruction for school bus drivers.

Prior to the new law taking effect, school bus drivers would take a 17-hour online course followed by a three-hour, in-person class. They had six months to complete the course after being hired. Annually, all drivers were required to attend a three-house in person refresher class to maintain their school bus authorization.

Now, the three-hour refresher course is optional.

The Controversy

“The change in state requirements that made annual bus driver training optional came as a surprise,” David Johnson, executive director of the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association, said of the controversial driver training update. “Some updates were necessary and were already underway before the bill passed—specifically, updating the online portion of new driver training. Much of this content was already being covered through ELDT, and it was time for an update.

“However, the annual three-hour refresher training is, in my view, very important,” he continued. “Making it optional could make it easier for a school district to provide significantly less training for its drivers. It is my hope that all districts will continue to recognize the value of this professional development and will continue to require their drivers to participate. IPTA will continue to support the training provided by the Department of Education and encourage districts to take part in it.”

The bill was introduced on Feb. 13, 2025, passed both chambers, and was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds on June 6, 2025, taking effect at the new year.

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