New Mexico State Rep. Debra Sariñana introduced a bill ahead of the 2025 legislative session to make electric school buses an option for New Mexico school districts to replace traditional diesel vehicles.
Lawmakers are pushing to provide school districts throughout New Mexico financial support during the upcoming legislative session to replace their diesel school buses with zero emission alternative fuel ones.
House Bill 32, introduced by Reps. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque) and Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe), would give New Mexico school districts the choice of replacing diesel school buses with electric or other alternative fuel buses. It would also require that the Public Education Department provide the districts with funding at least comparable to what it costs to purchase a diesel bus.
State law requires that public school buses be replaced every 12 years. Public Education Department Spokesperson Martha Pincoffs said 198 buses will need to be replaced this fiscal year.
“This is just one little thing we need to do to make sure we are helping climate change,” Sariñana told Source. “Plus our kids, inhaling diesel when you get in a bus or around a bus is not good for them.”
Kristin Graziano, a family physician and member of the advocacy organization Healthy Climate New Mexico, explained that emissions from diesel buses release toxic particulate matter, ozone and other harmful gases which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and public health. The New Mexico Environment Department reports transportation as the second largest producer of climate emissions in the state.
Children are more susceptible to the health problems these fumes pose, Graziano said. “Their respiratory rates are higher than ours, they breathe faster. Their surface area on their lungs is actually bigger than adults … Their physiology is different. Also, they can’t often get themselves out of environments. They’re dependent on adults.”
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Graziano pointed to lung diseases as the most common health impacts tied to diesel emissions, but said exposure has also been linked to heart disease, cancer and possible negative effects to neurodevelopment.
“The kids I take care of, if their asthma is uncontrolled or their asthma is triggered by noxious fumes around the school, that impacts their ability to attend school, so there’s more absenteeism,” Graziano said, pointing out the ripple effect exposure can have on families. She added that if kids are unable to go to school, that could also lead to parents having to leave work to care for them.
Charles Goodmacher, lobbyist and policy advisor for Healthy Climate New Mexico, said approximately six school districts out of roughly 200 throughout the state have electric school buses so far, including Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Lake Arthur, Dulce, Dora and Albuquerque school districts.
These districts have received federal or private funding in recent years to purchase electric buses and charging infrastructure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program is currently reviewing clean bus rebate applications from around the country. Awards are anticipated to be announced in May.
According to Healthy Climate New Mexico and NMVC Action Fund, diesel school buses cost approximately $140,000 each, while electric school buses, or ESBs, cost about $400,000. However, ESBs do not require the same amount of maintenance as diesel.
ESBs can also be used as energy storage to support the local energy grid or as backup power in emergency situations, according to NMVC Action Fund. The proposed bill will allow school districts to work with local electric utilities to establish vehicle-to-grid agreements, where districts sell excess energy back to the grid. ESB supporters note that this can bring revenue to the schools and further offset the cost of the buses.
Sariñana, a retired math teacher, said she took a ride on an electric school bus in Santa Fe and found it to be very different from her past experiences on school buses.
“I remember going on field trips and you couldn’t even hear, everybody was yelling. But in this bus, it was so calm,” Sariñana said, pointing out that electric buses don’t have a traditional loud engine. “This is what our kids need and as a teacher, I think this would get them to school a whole lot calmer.”
Graziano said she thinks the proposed bill could “make a significant impact on the health and the lifelong quality of life for our kids.”
Lawmakers introduced a similar bill last year, but failed to make it on the governor’s call as an absolute budget item. Short 30-day legislative sessions focus solely on budgetary items or bills that receive special messages from the governor.
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This post was originally authored and published by Leah Romero from via RSS Feed. to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
