§1184 Over-the-road Bus Security Training Program

Summary

The Secretary must write rules within 6 months after August 3, 2007, to create a security training program for over-the-road bus frontline workers. The Secretary must work with law enforcement, emergency and security experts, bus companies, and employee labor groups when making the rules. The required training must cover 12 areas, including how to judge the seriousness of threats; talk and coordinate with drivers and passengers; defend or protect yourself; use protective gear; evacuate passengers (including people with disabilities and the elderly); learn about terrorist behavior and psychological reactions; run live drills (like tunnel evacuations); spot and report dangerous substances or suspicious packages; follow incident and emergency responder procedures; operate security equipment; and other training the Secretary decides is needed. After the rules are issued, each bus operator must send a training plan to the Secretary within 90 days. The Secretary has 60 days to approve it or ask for changes, and the operator must answer within 30 days. Once approved, operators must finish training existing frontline employees within 1 year (employees hired less than 30 days before that date must be trained within their first 60 days). The Secretary will update the rules as threats change, operators must update training in a reasonable time, the program must be part of the National Training Program under section 748, and within 2 years after the rules are issued the Secretary will review and report to Congress on how the training is being used. The report may be submitted in classified and redacted forms.