Senator James Skoufis (D-Hudson Valley) was honored for his legislative leadership by the New York State Bus Contractors Association (NYSBCA) at their recent conference in Albany.

“I was honored to accept NYSBCA’s Legislator of the Year Award for the work my team and I have been doing to keep our school buses safely on the road,” said Senator Skoufis. “Our public and private transportation workers are a vital piece of our state’s economic engine and I am sincerely grateful for all the work that they do.”

“Senator Skoufis was instrumental in providing immediate relief to help alleviate the driver shortage through his support and guidance on New York’s adoption of third-party testing,” said NYSBCA President Nick Vallone. “There is no doubt that his swift action has already produced dozens of new qualified school bus drivers in the program’s opening months.”

Skoufis’ recent initiatives to aid bus transportation workers include successfully pressuring the DMV to expand third-party CDL testing for Class A, B, and C licenses, facilitation of early meetings to bring the state’s first-ever electric school bus manufacturer online in Orange County, and assisting local school districts with addressing major driver shortages by subcontracting with private transportation providers.