BEAUMONT, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill last Friday that requires three-point lap-shoulder seat belts on all school buses purchased by districts on or after Sept. 1, 2010, and on all school-chartered buses contracted by districts on or after Sept. 1, 2011.

The bill stipulates that the buses must be equipped with seat belts for every passenger, including the driver, and requires the State Board of Education to develop a program that will help school districts instruct students on how to properly use them.

Additionally, it requires each student riding a bus equipped with seat belts to wear one, and indicates that a district can retrofit its existing bus fleet with seat belts at its own expense. To that end, a district can accept seat belt donations or monetary donations to purchase seat belts with the approval of its board of trustees.

School districts do not, however, have to purchase new buses equipped with three-point seat belts until state legislators have accumulated enough money to reimburse the districts for their purchases.

Four other states — New York, New Jersey, Florida and California — have school bus seat belt laws. Texas joins California in specifically requiring lap-shoulder belts; the other three states require lap or lap-shoulder belts.