A man closes the entrance to Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine on Oct. 3 in Baltimore because of the federal government shutdown. States are currently covering costs of some federal programs, but it’s unclear whether they will be repaid once the government reopens. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

States are doing what they generally do during a federal government shutdown: continuing to operate programs serving some of the neediest people.

That means schools are still serving federally subsidized meals and states are distributing funding for the federal food stamp program. For now.

If the shutdown drags on and federal dollars run out, states can only keep programs going for so long. States may choose to pay for some services themselves so residents keep their benefits.

But this time, state leaders have new worries about getting reimbursed for federal costs once the federal spending impasse is resolved. That’s traditionally been the practice following a shutdown, but the Trump administration’s record of pulling funding and targeting Democratic-led states has some officials worried about what comes after the shutdown.

Many states already struggled to balance their own budgets this year. And some fear going without federal reimbursement for shutdown costs could force states to make painful cuts to their own budget priorities.

Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat, said the administration has not made good on its word to states in recent months — freezing some congressionally approved funding and cutting already awarded grants. So it’s likewise unclear whether the federal government will follow previous practice and reimburse states for covering shutdown costs of crucial federal programs such as food assistance.

“I think everything is a risk with this administration. … We in the states are kind of left holding the bag yet again as the federal government tries to sort out what it wants to be when it grows up,” he told Stateline.

Nevada entered the shutdown with more than $1.2 billion in reserves. Last week, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office said in a statement that state funds would be adequate to cover “a short period of time with minimal disruption to services.”

But the governor’s office said a shutdown of more than 30 days would cause more significant challenges for the state.

Lombardo’s office did not respond to Stateline’s questions. But last week, it released a three-page document on the shutdown, saying it expected the federal government to reimburse states once the budget stalemate is resolved.

“As D.C. works through its issues, our administration will continue to support Nevadans in any way we can throughout this unnecessary federal government shutdown,” Lombardo said in the statement.

While mandatory programs such as Medicaid and Social Security continue to send funds to beneficiaries during the shutdown, funding for other safety net programs such as food assistance are more uncertain. The federal government told states there were enough funds for the food stamp program to cover October benefits, though the special food program for women, infants and children may run out of money sooner.

By furloughing workers and halting federal spending, the shutdown could cost the national economy $15 billion per week, President Donald Trump’s economic advisers estimated.

The White House says a prolonged shutdown will affect the economies of every state by reducing employment, federal benefits and consumer spending. White House estimates say this could cost Michigan $361 million per week in lost economic output, for example, while Florida could lose $911 million each week.

‘Fend for themselves’

Some federal services are shuttered during a shutdown: The Environmental Protection Agency has ceased many research, permitting and enforcement efforts, and official jobs data is no longer being released. Federal funds for other programs, including food assistance, are expected to last through the end of the month. But states can elect to spend their own funds on these programs, which were previously authorized by Congress and state legislatures.

Before the shutdown, states were stockpiling reserve funding. The National Association of State Budget Officers reported most state budgets this year maintained or increased rainy day funds. At the same time, state and local governments are borrowing record amounts: As much as $600 billion in municipal bonds is projected to be issued by the end of 2025.

“So states and localities are kind of getting the message they really need to fend for themselves much more than they ever had,” said William Glasgall, public finance adviser at the Volcker Alliance, a nonprofit that works to support public sector workers.

Since January, the Trump administration has stripped states and cities of billions of dollars that Congress approved for education, infrastructure and energy projects. Glasgall said that record leaves states with legitimate concerns about getting repaid for their shutdown-related expenses — a prospect that would likely spark even more lawsuits from Democratic-led states.

“They’ve already, before the shutdown, started rolling back federal funding, and I don’t see any reason why they would stop now,” he said. “The recissions that have been announced are pretty harsh, and it’s money we’re expecting and not getting.”

The last shutdown, which lasted five weeks during Trump’s first term, delayed billions in federal spending and reduced gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced — by $11 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2019. Experts say states were repaid for costs they incurred providing federal services during that shutdown.

In Minnesota, State Budget Director Ahna Minge said staff have been studying previous shutdowns. But at a news conference with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz last week, she characterized this shutdown as “unpredictable.”

“The current federal administration may not follow the historic playbook,” she said.

Walz said farmers would be among the first hit as the federal Farm Service Agency has ceased operations in the middle of the state’s harvest season. Among other duties, that agency works on disaster assistance and processes loans during harvest to protect farmers against commodity price fluctuations.

Minge said Minnesota officials think programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children have enough existing federal funds to operate through October. But she said the state budget cannot backfill all the commitments made by federal programs.

“What we know is that the longer a shutdown lasts, the greater the impact to state programs and services,” she said.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has pledged to use state dollars to keep WIC afloat if needed, The Associated Press reported. And Colorado lawmakers set aside $7.5 million just before the shutdown to keep WIC running.

Already under strain

In Maryland, the shutdown is compounding the economic instability from Trump’s ongoing efforts to shrink the number of federal employees, agencies and spending.

With more than 160,000 federal employees, Maryland’s economy relies heavily on the federal workforce. The Trump administration has said it may deny back pay to hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers, despite a law he signed in 2019 guaranteeing such back pay.

Chief Deputy Comptroller Andrew Schaufele told lawmakers last week that a shutdown could cost the state $700,000 per day in lost tax revenue.

Democratic Gov. Wes Moore pledged to continue funding some federal programs, but said the state would not tap into its rainy day funds to do so.

“We’re going to continually evaluate how long we can go,” he said at a news conference.

As for getting repaid, Moore spokesperson David Turner told Stateline that the state had received no indication that the federal government would deviate from past practice, “but we are monitoring closely.”

This fiscal uncertainty hits states as they are already struggling to respond to the strain of federal agency layoffs and cuts in the major tax and spending law Trump signed this summer. The law slashed billions in social service funding and created costly new bureaucratic burdens for states, which administer Medicaid and food assistance programs.

“There’s no way, really at this point, to sort of assess with any level of confidence what’s going to happen when you also have these massive layoffs that were going on pre-shutdown,” said Lisa Parshall, a professor of political science at Daemen University in New York. “There’s just a real sense from states and localities — and I think rightly so — that that kind of reliability of the federal government is now in question.”

It may not be a question of whether states are reimbursed for their shutdown expenses, but which states are reimbursed, Parshall said. The Trump administration has publicly targeted funding of liberal-led states and cities over policy disagreements, raising the possibility it could do something similar with the shutdown.

“Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, you know, you could argue,” she said. “But it’s definitely a thing that seems to be adding to this level of uncertainty — this shutdown feels different.”

In California, officials just closed a nearly $12 billion shortfall when negotiating the budget that was approved in June. The budget deficit is expected to grow to more than $17 billion next year, said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the State of California Department of Finance, which advises the governor and state agencies on budget issues.

“There isn’t a long-term, open-ended line of credit available if this drags out,” he said of the federal government shutdown.

The depth of reserve funds available varies by federally funded program, he said. CalFresh, California’s name for its Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, has enough funds to cover food stamp benefits for this month, but anything beyond that is uncertain.

“If the duration of this is in the matter of days, it will be an inconvenience, but should not pose a massive problem,” he said. “However, if it does drag out for an extended period of time, then clearly it’s going to be a problem.”

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

Federal agents, including members of the Department of Homeland Security, the Border Patrol, and police, attempt to keep protesters back outside a downtown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Oct. 4, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.  (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The White House slammed a President Donald Trump-appointed federal judge Monday for blocking the deployment of National Guard troops to Oregon, as hostilities escalate between the administration and Democratic states where Trump has begun sending in troops over governors’ objections.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration is within legal bounds and will appeal the district court’s decision, which she described as “untethered in reality and in the law.” 

“The president is using his authority as commander in chief, U.S. Code 12406, which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems it’s appropriate,” Leavitt said at the press briefing, referring to a section in Title 10 of the U.S. Code that authorizes the president to send in the National Guard in cases of invasion or rebellion.

Leavitt told reporters that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, facility in Portland where nightly protests have been occurring has been “under siege” by “anarchists.”

“They have been disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence,” Leavitt said.

Mainstream local media reports and statements from local officials have contradicted that claim.

​​”There is no need for military intervention in Oregon. There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said in a statement Sunday.

Federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls on nonviolent protesters Saturday evening, according to local media reports.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also filed a legal challenge against the administration Monday morning. A federal judge set a hearing for Thursday. Illinois and Chicago sought a temporary restraining order to stop Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from ordering Texas and Illinois Guard troops to the country’s third-largest city.

Trump teases Insurrection Act 

Trump on Monday afternoon raised the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, a tool to expand the president’s legal authority for using military personnel for domestic law enforcement.

Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office the conditions under which he would invoke the law, Trump said “if it was necessary,” and speculated that he could use it to defy courts or state officials.

“So far it hasn’t been necessary,” he said. “But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I’d do that. If people were getting killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that. I want to make sure that people aren’t killed. We have to make sure our cities are safe.”

Court battle in Portland 

In Oregon, federal District Judge Karin Immergut broadened her order Sunday night barring the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard troops to Portland. 

The edict came after Trump and Hegseth defied a temporary restraining order that Immergut issued Saturday halting 200 Oregon National Guard troops from being sent there. 

Immergut was nominated by Trump in 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate by voice vote.

The administration maintains the Guard is needed to protect federal agents, as sustained small protests pop up outside an ICE facility 2 miles south of city hall. Kotek rebuffed Trump’s claims that the city is “on fire” and said local authorities are equipped to handle the demonstrations that lately range from a dozen or so people to roughly 100.

Trump ordered 101 California National Guard troops to Portland overnight, without the knowledge of Kotek, she said Sunday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, confirmed that Trump had ordered up to 300 of his state’s National Guard troops to Oregon. 

Just before Immergut’s Sunday night emergency hearing, an Oregon assistant attorney general filed a memo with the court showing that Hegseth had ordered 400 Texas National Guard troops to Portland and Chicago.

California joined Oregon and Portland in suing the administration.

‘A domestic militarization’

Pritzker said he has urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to “immediately withdraw his support for this decision and refuse to allow Texas National Guard members to be used in this way.”

“Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” Pritzker said at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the deployment “is unfair to National Guardsmen, it is unfair to local law enforcement, and it is certainly unfair to the law-abiding citizens of Illinois who do not want to be subject to military occupation.”

Chicago is nearly a month into a federal immigration crackdown. Dozens of federal agents raided an apartment building in the city’s South Shore neighborhood on Sept. 30, ziptying adults and children, and detaining some U.S. citizens, according to multiple media reports. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a highly produced video of the raid on social media.

Trump’s federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to mostly Democratic-run states has alarmed political and constitutional experts. 

Pat Eddington, senior fellow in homeland and civil liberties at the libertarian Cato Institute, said he agrees with Pritzker’s concerns.

“I share his belief 100% that the use of the American military and all these massive employment of ICE and HSI and FBI and marshals and the rest for ostensible immigration enforcement and ostensible crime control, it’s really designed to lay the groundwork to normalize a militarization, essentially a domestic militarization of Americans, civic life,” Eddington told States Newsroom in an interview in late September.

On a Monday afternoon press call, Hima Shansi, the head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security program, said Trump’s use of military and federal police forces in recent months “raises serious constitutional concerns in terms of federalism, the separation of powers between the federal government and the states which generally exercise police power.”

“What that means in real-people language is that, as the states have been saying, they are fully capable of doing their jobs as needed, and there is absolutely no reason for the president to assert federal power in the way that he is forcibly doing.”

Starting in Los Angeles

Trump federalized California National Guard troops and deployed U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in June in response to protests against aggressive immigration enforcement there. 

Newsom objected to the plan and sued to stop the deployment. A federal judge initially sided with the Democratic governor and blocked the deployment, but an appeals panel reversed the decision. 

The trial court ruled again in September that Trump had overstepped the line separating military forces from law enforcement. The administration has appealed.

While that case in California was ongoing, Trump also ordered the District of Columbia National Guard to assist local police in the nation’s capital. Because the district is a federal territory, it is relatively clear that move was within the president’s legal authority, even if many Trump critics questioned its necessity. 

National Guard troops from several Republican states also deployed to the district in a more legally dubious move.

Trump also ordered Tennessee National Guard troops to Memphis last month, with the approval of the state’s Republican governor.

Ashley Murray reported from Washington, D.C. Jacob Fischler reported from Portland, Oregon.

The U.S. Capitol on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

State officials from both parties urged Congress to avoid a government shutdown Monday, though Republicans were pushing harder for an extension of current funding.

Though they sometimes clash with federal directives, states depend on funding from the federal government for numerous programs. A government shutdown, which would have a wider effect than any in recent years because Congress has not passed any of the dozen annual funding bills, would delay or cancel that support.

The National Governors Association issued a statement Monday from its chair and vice chair, Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, calling on Congress to come together to avoid a shutdown. The bipartisan group comprising all the nation’s governors generally avoids commenting on controversial issues that divide its membership.

“The consistent use of political brinksmanship when it comes to our government funding does not serve our states, territories or our people well,” they wrote. “It is long past time to stop kicking the can down the road and return to the regular order of debating and passing a budget, but at this juncture, Congress has a responsibility to ensure the government remains operational. We urge federal leaders from both sides to work to set aside political games and pass a budget that reflects the values and promises states commit to every day.”

While members of both parties expressed a desire to avoid a shutdown, they proposed different solutions. 

Republicans urged lawmakers to approve the “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels, while Democrats backed up their party’s position in Congress to seek an extension of health insurance subsidies in a funding bill.

“Allowing a shutdown would consequently and needlessly disrupt our economies, threaten public safety, and undermine public confidence in our institutions,” 25 Republican governors wrote in a Monday letter to congressional leaders. “Our families and communities would feel the pain with immediate effect and confusion.”

Partisan differences over shutdown extend beyond the Beltway

The U.S. House, where Republicans hold a majority, passed a stopgap spending measure this month, but it failed to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the U.S. Senate, as Democrats have declined to support a proposal that does not address health care costs. 

At the state level, the debate has fallen along similar lines. 

“Put simply, a  government shutdown should not be used as political leverage to pass partisan reforms — these are not chips Congress should be bargaining with,” the Republican governors wrote. “The proposed budget extension is a straightforward, bipartisan solution. There are no gimmicks or partisan poison pills; it’s a clean, short-term funding measure that both parties have historically supported.”

Republican state attorneys general sent a similar letter, which noted a shutdown would affect state and local law enforcement.

Democrats throughout the country, though, echoed congressional messaging that Congress should extend the health care subsidies that were included in the 2010 health care law known as the Affordable Care Act, and take more steps to reduce the cost of health care. Republicans’ failure to include such provisions would put blame for the shutdown on the GOP, Democrats have said.

“Instead of supporting a plan that would lower costs and stop making health care more expensive, Senate Republicans are blindly following Donald Trump and pushing the country towards a devastating government shutdown,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who chairs Senate Democrats’ campaign organization, said in a Sept. 19 statement.

In a press release last week, the Democratic Governors Association touted efforts by its members to call for extending subsidies.

“DGA Chair Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer, and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham called on Congressional Republicans to extend critical Affordable Care Act subsidies that 22 million Americans rely on and avoid a government shutdown,” the release read. 

“Without action from Republicans in Congress, health care costs for hardworking Americans who rely on these subsidies will balloon by an average of over 75 percent.”

The recently approved National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures that was published online and has been printed did not contain a new and historic section on alternative transportation.

The online version was removed from the National Congress on School Transportation website as of Friday, pending the update.

School Transportation News discovered the omission this week while finalizing the October magazine edition. STN asked for clarification from alternative transportation writing committee chair Tyler Bryan of the Delaware Department of Education, who in turn notified the NCST steering committee. Steering committee chair Michael LaRocco confirmed the oversight to STN Thursday.

The NCST steering committee informed state delegates and interested parties who attended the deliberations in May via email Friday that an online version of the updated specifications and the recently printed books are “incomplete.”

LaRocco added in the email that NCST is reprinting the books at no cost to those who ordered them, and the manuals will include a notation and disclaimer “to minimize any confusion.”

The new manuals should arrive at their destinations in two to three weeks, he added.

The alternative transportation section that was omitted contained guidance on driver credentials, driver training, vehicle design/equipment, and special education policy considerations. It was a new section included in the specs manual for the 17th NCST and was the first time the event that dates to 1939 took up the issue of non-school bus transportation.

Additionally, LaRocco told STN Friday the update will include another small technical change.

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Related: National Congress Finishes Early After 10-Year Hiatus
Related: NASDPTS’ Weber Provides EXPO Attendees with Updates from NCST
Related: NHTSA Rulemaking at Heart of NCST Resolutions Focused on Safety
Related: Updated: NCST Takes on Issue of Non-School Bus Transportation

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New heat-transfer system targets HVAC’s biggest inefficiencies, delivering up to 10x the performance without refrigerants, pumps, or significant energy input. When it comes to building a sustainable energy future, there are two sides to the equation: generation and demand. While most of the attention has been placed on producing more clean power, there’s an equally …

The post A New HVAC “Force” Cuts Energy, Boosts Efficiency appeared first on Alternative Energy HQ.

Four New Nuclear Reactors and Forever Radioactive Waste in Calhoun County, Texas First Intervention Against SMRs in the U.S. LONG MOTT, Texas – This week, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (Waterkeeper) intervened to stop four proposed experimental nuclear power reactors targeted for Long Mott, Texas – a community in coastal Calhoun County – the first …

The post San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper Challenges  appeared first on Alternative Energy HQ.

Nevada became the 26th state to authorize school districts to install and use school bus stop-arm cameras.

Assembly Bill 527, which passed June 6 and went into effect on July 1, allows school districts to install the cameras and for law enforcement to use evidence of illegal passing to issue citations to the vehicle’s registered owner. Fines collected are used to fund the installation, maintenance and operation of the camera systems as well as pay the vendor to install, operate or maintain the systems.

School districts that choose to vieo cameras must conduct a public awareness campaign regarding the use of cameras and notify the public on when enforcement starts.

While school district leaders applaud the law, local police departments are questioning if they have adequate staffing to handle review video and issue citations, as noted in a local news article.

The law also addresses privacy concerns by requiring school districts and police departments to delete images of vehicles after 90 days.

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Related: New York State Amends School Bus Camera Law Following Court Rulings
Related: Update: Nevada School District Raises Pay Amid Bus Driver Shortage
Related: Are Extended Stop Arms Part of Solution to Illegal School Bus Passing?

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Washington, D.C. – According to reporting, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to rescind all $7 billion of Solar For All grants.   The Solar For All grant was passed into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 to expand access to affordable and reliable solar energy to low-income regions across the country. 60 projects have been …

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Technology to prohibit speeding is nothing new to school buses. While a federal proposal to require speed limiting devices on heavy-duty vehicles was recently scuttled, states and local governments continue to push for their use.

Where does the school bus industry stand with theses devices? Do they really increase safety?

Several manufacturers think so. Speed limiters, also known as intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology, gained traction about three years ago in New York City. The devices were first placed on a variety of 50 government fleet vehicles but not school buses. However, the project has since been expanded three times, and currently speed limiters are now installed on 700 vehicles operating across the five boroughs, 50 of which are school buses powered by both diesel and electric.

Magtec Products provides advanced the ISA, which company names SafeSpeed, on vehicles in New York City. Gary Catapano, Magtec’s chief strategy and safety advisor, has extensive firsthand school bus safety experience. He oversaw transportation companies operating in the New York area as the senior vice president of safety for First Student as well as First Transit and Greyhound from October 2004 through October 2017.

“I’m really passionate about school bus safety and what school busses do every single day in North America. It’s a pretty incredible mission, moving all those children safely and securely, and by and large, they do a great job making that happen,” he said. “But speeding is one of those problems that affects not only the school bus industry, but every type of transport out there. … [I]t’s the leading cause of fatal injuries and crashes. Typically, from year to year, anywhere from 29 to 33 percent of all fatal crashes have speeding as a causal factor.”

He said when he left First Student, he started to work with Magtec because he had piloted the technology and saw how it could make fleets safer.

“Speed is at the center of our roadway safety problems in North America, and when you slow people down, you end up being able to avoid collisions,” Catapano said, adding that slowing down allows for more follow distance between vehicles and more time to conduct defensive driving maneuvers. School bus drivers have more time to react to other hazards on the roadway as well as actions of other motorists.

“So, not only does that eliminate speed related crashes but allows you to drive more defensively and help avoid non speeding related crashes,” Catapano added.

He noted that having ISA on school buses, especially those traveling in neighborhoods with children and bicyclists present, is critical to safety. Even traveling a few miles over the speed limit increases both crash risk and severity.

New York City vehicles have traveled over 5 million miles using Magtec’s SafeSpeed across a variety of vehicles and departments. Catapano noted that NYC is a challenging environment to operate vehicles due to its urban landscape, high skyscrapers and roadways with various speed limits.

The technology became a part of the city’s Transition to Safety plan. The report “NYC School Bus Fleet: Improving Road Safety Through Technologies and Training” published in January 2024 stated that the ISA system provides a warning (visual, haptic or a combination) to a driver that the target speed is exceeded.

After installing the technology on school buses, the report states “preliminary results on the first nine-bus pilot indicate that installing ISA on school buses decreased excessive speeding (11-plus mph above the speed limit) from 4.21 percent to 0.03 percent of overall driving time, representing a 99.29 percent decrease in excessive speeding time. These initial findings suggest that ISA is a feasible intervention to decrease speeding behaviors in school bus drivers.”

Catapano explained that NYC chose to enforce a speed limit that was above the posted limit by 11 miles per hour and matched the settings of the 2,000 speed cameras that are in placed around the city. Many NYC streets have a speed limit of 25 mph, putting the maximum speed a vehicle could travel at 36 mph. He noted the SafeSpeed device keeps track of the posted speed limits wherever the vehicle is traveling, regardless of if it’s on a highway or residential street.

Meanwhile, the 2025 NYC Safe Fleet Transition Plan, prepared by the Volpe National Transportation Center for the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), said ISA resulted in a 64 percent relative decrease in the amount of time that drivers exceeded the speed limit by at least 11 mph.

“With sufficient evidence that ISA is effective at reducing severe speeding, the technology has been recategorized from “exploratory” to a Tier 2 “best practice” technology,” the report states. It adds that the city plans to install ISA in an additional 1,600 fleet vehicles, which would be the largest single deployment of active ISA in the U.S.

In addition to safety, Catapano said the speed limiters are also saving fleets anywhere from 3 to 5 percent on fuel consumption. Plus, he said speeding results in tailgating, which leads to having to use the brakes more often, resulting in higher maintenance costs for parts replacement.

He added the technology is relatively affordable and easy to install—typically taking around one hour per bus.

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Related: Office of State Superintendent of Education Launches New Parent Portal for Student Transportation Services in D.C.
Related: New York State of Charge
Related: GPS Technology Targets School Bus Speeding

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Beyond speed regulation, the Magtec SafeSpeed system also offers remote vehicle shutdown capabilities, which can be used in emergency situations, such as when a bus driver is impaired or a vehicle is hijacked. Originally developed for military and high-value cargo protection, this security feature allows school districts to safely immobilize a vehicle from their dispatch office.

“Whether it’s an impairment issue, a medical emergency, or even a security threat, this technology gives districts a way to take control and protect both passengers and the public,” Catapano added, noting that no additional device is required.

Another Success Story

New York City’s adoption of ISA systems is already inspiring interest from other school districts, some with as many as 1,200 buses already equipped with the technology, Catapano noted. Yet adoption remains slow nationwide.

“Truthfully, the technology is very inexpensive and it’s readily available now,” Catapano said. “The real question is, why aren’t more districts using it?”

At least one more big city is. A new pilot program in Washington, D.C., featuring speed-limiting technology developed by LifeSafer, is making waves in the effort to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities on the road. The program also centers around ISA technology that automatically prevents vehicles from exceeding the speed limit.

LifeSafer has a three-decades-long mission of preventing road deaths, starting with ignition interlock systems. But four years ago, the company pivoted toward broader applications of safety tech.

“I started asking, how else can we save lives?” said Michael Travars, president and general manager of LifeSafer.

That question led to the development of an ISA technology, a system already proven in large commercial fleets but largely untapped in the public sector—especially in school transportation.

The turning point came when Travars connected with Rick Burke, D.C.’s traffic safety officer, during a conversation about the city’s Vision Zero goal for eliminating traffic crash fatalities. That led to a pilot installation of ISA devices in 10 school vehicles used for the city’s School Connect program, which provides equitable transportation for students transferring between schools.

The pilot program launched in January and was designed to run for three months, focusing on school buses operating throughout the city at varying times and locations. After just 30 days, feedback from school bus drivers was overwhelmingly positive.

“The drivers loved it,” Travars relayed. “One of them told me, ‘I know my vehicle will go the speed limit, so I can pay attention to the kids.’ That’s the whole point.”

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Related: Ins, Outs of Routing Software Discussed at STN EXPO Reno
Related: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Universal Service Fund for E-Rate
Related: C-V2X Technology Promises School Bus Time, Cost Savings

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He said the technology is purposefully non-distracting and once installed—typically a 30-minute process—the system silently enforces preset speed thresholds. Using real-time data from mapping sources like HERE, Google and Waze, the system automatically calibrates to local speed limits. It never hits the brakes for the drivers but simply prevents further acceleration.

The goal, Travars said, is safe, seamless compliance. And if drivers need to override the limiter in an emergency, a manual override button provides temporary acceleration for a fixed time, after which the limiter resumes.

With the D.C. pilot now past its initial phase, LifeSafer is working closely with city officials to expand ISA technology across more school vehicles. At the same time, the company is actively speaking with other cities and districts interested in launching their own programs. And while cost is always a concern for school systems, LifeSafer is committed to flexibility.

“We’re being adaptive during this early adoption period,” added Travars. “We want to see proof of safety, and we’re happy to work with districts to make that happen.”

Feds Have a Different Opinion?

Meanwhile, despite positive feedback from NYC, D.C. and others, the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration withdrew a proposal to require ISA on heavy-duty vehicles.

The proposal would have required heavy vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating over 26,000 pounds to be equipped with speed-limiting devices, initially set to a speed—likely between 60 and 68 miles per hour—that was to be determined in the final rule.

It dates back to the Obama administration’s original proposal that trucks with a gross weight of more than 26,000 pounds be equipped with a speed-limiting device to keep them under 65 mph. The proposed rule was withdrawn during the first Trump administration, only to be revived and advanced in 2022 by the Biden administration.

However, FMCSA and NHTSA withdrew the rule once again earlier this year. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the device is not only an inconvenience but a hazard for drivers who are forced to go slower than the flow of traffic. Reasons for the withdrawal include policy and safety concerns as well as continued data gaps that create considerable uncertainty about the estimated costs, benefits and other impacts.

Bus & Motorcoach News reported that the American Trucking Associations, United Motorcoach Association other industry advocates embraced the proposed rule, including large trucking firms, Coach USA and many four-wheel truck drivers.

The opposition centered on the hazards of speed differentials, increased crashes, traffic backups, driver fatigue and increased pressure on a dwindling driver pool for relief drivers, as many routes were previously accomplished without exceeding the driving hours of service.

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The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) says 39.3 million motorists could be illegally passing school buses nationwide, after updating its National Stop Arm Count survey to correct data reported by California.  

The California Department of Education provided new figures to NASDPTS to correct the number of driver-side and student loading-door-side illegal passes by motorists at school bus stops. As a result, NASDPTS extrapolated a decrease in the number of potential violations based on a 180-day school year and nationwide, further indicating that while still a major issue illegal passing rates improved during the 2024-2025 school year.

NASDPTS announced its 13th National Stop Arm Violation Count, a one-day snapshot of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses while loading or unloading students during the 2024-2025 school year, at National School Transportation Association Annual Meeting and Convention Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts. Earlier this year, California joined 35 other states and the District of Columbia in voluntary one-day counts of motorists passing the federally mandated stop arm and flashing red lights at school bus stops while children are loading or unloading.

Initially, the NASDPTS report indicated that the 1,943 participating school bus drivers in California — accounting for approximately 8 percent of the 21,668 school buses in operation each school day, according to the California Department of Education’s Office of School Transportation — observed 10,381 violations, and that all occurred on the right-side of the school buses where students load and exit.

California clarified Thursday that a total of 8,231 violations of the school bus stop arm and red lights were reported, with 3,881 occurring from the front of the bus and 4,350 from the rear. None occurred on the right side where the loading door is located, Anna Borges, supervisor the Office of Student Transportation, told School Transportation News.

California is also the only state to require all kindergarten through eighth grade students be escorted by their drivers, when the students must cross the street to and from the school bus to get to or from their homes. In these instances, the Office of Student Transportation clarified that 136 illegal passes were observed, where the motorist or motorist approached the school bus from the front or as oncoming traffic, during afternoon routes. Fifty-nine motorists passed during morning routes and dight during mid-day routes. Motorists passed from the rear of the school bus during escorted routes 104 times in the afternoon, 32 times in the morning, and 10 times at mid-day.

Illegal passes spiked on non-escorted routes, a total of 7,882 instances, or nearly 96 percent of the total observations. This included students who don’t need to cross the street and students in grades 9 through 12.

A total of 1,711 school buses operated by 149 of the California’s 950 school districts that provide home-to-school transportation and 11 private carriers participated in the April 29 count. 

With the correction, NASPDTS said 218,000 illegal passing incidents  report indicates 114,471 school bus drivers, or 31 percent of the nation’s total, reported a total of 69,408 vehicles passed their buses illegally. Adjusting to account for 100 percent all school bus drivers in the U.S., NASDPTS said over 218,000 illegal passing violations could occur on one day, a decrease of 7,000 based on the initial sample previously reported. NASDTPS also extrapolates 1.3 million fewer incidents could occur during a 180-day school year across all 50 states, 39.3 million compared to the original estimate of 40.6 million. While still high, the new figure represents 13-percent fewer illegal passes than the 45.2 million reported for the 2023-2024 school year.

“Even with these corrected numbers the illegal passing of stopped school buses continues to be the greatest safety danger to children,” said NASDPTS President Mike Stier. ”Regardless of the number, 39.3 million violations is simply too many. We continue to encourage each state to raise awareness on this important safety issue and to do everything possible to ensure motorists put the safety of school children first.”

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts nationwide saw the number of illegal passings spike. NASDPTS had previously cited 41.8 million violations occurring using data from the 2019 and 2022 surveys, as the survey was suspended for two years during the height of COVID, when schools nationwide closed their doors and few school buses were on route. The survey returned in 2022.

Meanwhile, the most recent survey indicated 80 percent of the reported illegal passes occurred on the left side of the stopped school bus. More notably, that left almost 20 occurring on the right side of the bus, where the loading doors are located and where students enter and exit.

According to the NASDPTS update, over 50 percent of the observed illegal passes, 33,914 instances, occurred during afternoon routes. About 46 percent, or 31,127 violations, occurred in the morning and 2,217 violations, over 3 percent, occurred during midday routes. Sixty-nine percent of the observed violations, 39,442, were committed by motorists in oncoming vehicles as opposed to 22,203 vehicles, 36 percent, following from the rear.

Georgia led the way with the most school bus drivers participating in the one-day count at 13,468 followed by Tennessee with 11,811 and North Carolina with 10,597.

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Related: Combatting Illegal Passing with Awareness, Technology
Related: Georgia Gov Signs Law Following Fatal Illegal Passing Incident
Related: Florida Woman Convicted of 2021 Death of Girl at School Bus Stop
Related: Court Overturns Reckless Driving Conviction in Fatal Indiana Illegal Passing Case

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Growth Energy, the nation’s leading biofuel trade association praised Governor Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) for her veto of legislation imposing onerous new regulations on carbon capture investments. The bill, House File 639, would make it nearly impossible to build new carbon storage and transport infrastructure in Iowa, ultimately denying ethanol producers and their farm partners access to new energy markets.  

“We’re deeply grateful to Governor Reynolds for having the conviction to stand up for rural jobs and preserve opportunities for future generations of Iowa farmers,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “Carbon capture allows farmers and producers to accelerate investment in U.S. energy innovation and tap into growing markets around the world. These projects add value to every bushel of corn and provide a vital lifeline to our farmers in uncertain times. We look forward to working with our elected leaders to find a balanced policy solution that allows our industry to remain competitive and protects the billions of additional dollars these projects could deliver for farmers in Iowa and across the heartland.”

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U.S. Domestic Solar Production Reaches Historic Milestone Washington, D.C. – The United States has surpassed 50 GW in domestic solar energy manufacturing capacity for the first time in history, enough to power approximately 37.5 million homes. This milestone marks an impressive progress—bolstered by clean energy investments in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—by the renewable energy …

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Updated Western Solar Plan to guide responsible development in 11 Western states WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced an updated Western Solar Plan to help guide efficient and environmentally responsible solar energy permitting on public lands across the West. ?The plan will guide the siting of solar energy proposals in areas with fewer resource conflicts,  advance the nation’s growing clean energy economy, help lower energy costs …

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A new study on behalf of Milliken has identified the top U.S. states for sustainable energy production. The rapid rise of the sustainable energy sector worldwide has been one of the most important technological and economic stories of recent years. Continued urgency to mitigate the impact of climate change has spurred governments and companies to speed the transition …

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The international biofuels industry has found an unlikely ally in the waste management sector. A heightened global urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) is incentivizing renewable fuels production like never before, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently warned of an impending feedstock shortage for biodiesel, renewable diesel and biojet (aviation fuel) production, estimated …

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