On July 10, Gov. Phil Murphy approved S-3263/A-1677 (P.L.2024, c.38), which authorizes a board of education to enter into extended contracts and lease terms for electric school buses. The bill also permits the New Jersey School Boards Association to serve as a government aggregator to obtain energy services for local units. According to the bill’s Senate sponsor, the bill will enable the NJSBA to aggregate demand and obtain more favorable contract terms at a lower cost, while enabling districts that would otherwise be unable to afford or implement a transition to electric school buses the ability to do so.
Under current law, a school district may enter into a contract for the leasing of school buses for a term not exceeding 10 years. The bill provides that a school district may enter into a contract for the leasing of electric school buses and related charging equipment and services for a term not in excess of the service life of the vehicle. The bill similarly amends existing law to extend the terms of a lease purchase agreement for electric school buses. The bill does alter the maximum 10-year contracts or leasing terms for fossil fuel buses.
The legislation also amends current law to provide that the NJSBA may serve as a government aggregator to obtain electric school buses and related goods and services. That law already permits the NJSBA to serve as a government aggregator for the procurement of electric and natural gas services for its members. In 1999, the NJSBA established the Alliance for Competitive Energy Services program pursuant to that authority, and the program has generated significant financial savings for participating districts. At the request of the NJSBA, during committee deliberations, the legislation was amended to allow counties, municipalities and other local contracting units to voluntarily participate in the program, which should serve to generate even greater economic benefits.
The NJSBA supports the bill, which went into effect immediately.