School bus driver age requirement bill fails in committee

A bill that was supposed to lower the minimum age to drive a school bus in Tennessee, dropping it from 25 to 21, failed to pass a state senate committee. Wednesday, the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee rejected the bill in a narrow 5-4 vote. S tate Senator Janice Bowling who sponsored the senate version of the bill, told the committee that the bill was filed in hopes of expanding the pool of eligible bus drivers to combat a shortage. The Department of Safety expressed they would prefer the age requirement stay higher. With only four votes in favor of passage, the bill failed to pass the committee.