SECTION 1.  Section 7B of chapter 90, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the fourth paragraph, the following paragraph:-

There shall be a commission to determine whether seatbelts shall be installed in and required in future purchases of school buses. In addition, the commission shall, if it determines that seat belts will enhance the safety of school age children sufficiently, determine how to ensure the proper and consistent use of seatbelts, and whether any mandate for seatbelts applies to buses in current use or for future purchases only.

The purpose of this commission is to study the benefit, if any, to requiring seatbelts on school buses . This commission shall determine if school districts should require seat belts on buses, whether these seat belts, if required, should be lap belts or cross body belts, and whether school bus operators should be required to instruct students on the proper use of the installed seatbelts.  If the commission determines that seatbelts would benefit the safety of school-age children in the commonwealth, it shall review whether operating school buses shall be retrofitted with seatbelts and who shall bear that cost.