Syracuse-area senators split on slowing state’s electric school bus transition

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Syracuse’s state senators are split on whether to pump the brakes on New York’s law requiring school districts convert to clean fuel buses in the next decade.

Passed as part of the budget in 2022, school districts are required to buy only electric (or similarly clean fuel) starting in 2027. By 2035, districts’ entire fleets need to be converted.

State Senator John Mannion said: “I did support it because I believe in the goal of trying to get greenhouse gases out of our systems.”

“Part of what we were trying to do when we passed the original bill was to say, we, New York State are going to be part of incentivizing the companies to start producing these vehicles at a rate and at a cost that is manageable to our districts,” said State Senator Rachel May. “It has not happened yet.”

Last week, partly blamed on cost, Baldwinsville voters rejected the district’s request to buy a zero-emission bus.

Mannion sees the conflict between state law and voters’ will. “The legislation says you’ve got to do this,” he said, “but also, other state legislation says: ‘but they get to vote on it.’”

Citing the cost, the available inventory, the charging stations, and other infrastructure needed and now voters’ interest, Mannion thinks the timeline needs to evolve.

He said: “We’ve got to be flexible. We’ve got to have the ability to change. We’ve got to listen.”

Mannion said he’ll wait for a NYSERDA report on the transition’s status before saying how long the deadline should be delayed.

Senator Rachel May said: “I’m reluctant to slow down the timeline.”

She added: “We need to be out in front of this issue. We are poised to ruin our children’s futures if we let the climate keep heating up the way it is.”

She noted the budgetary and spending responsibility of school administrations, so she says she’d consider not holding districts accountable if they fail to meet the deadline.

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