MONTGOMERY, Ala. A bill has been introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives that would ban anyone registered under the state sex offender program from driving a commercial passenger vehicle or school bus.

The legislation would prohibit the state Department of Public Safety from issuing or renewing a commercial drivers license -- with a passenger or school bus endorsement -- to convicted sex offenders.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Arthur Payne, a Republican from Trussville, Ala.

Payne happens to be the brother of Charles Payne, president of the Alabama Motorcoach Association. Charles Payne and Jim Thrasher of Thrasher Brothers Trailways in Birmingham, Ala., and who is chairman of the Alabama Motorcoach Association legislative committee, prevailed on Arthur Payne to introduce the bill.

Working with them has been Ken Presley, vice president of the United Motorcoach Association, who also is a member of the Alabama Motorcoach Association legislative committee and who has made passage of such laws a goal of the UMA.

The proposed measure is modeled after a law that went into effect in North Carolina on Dec. 1 that aims to block anyone registered under that states sex offender and public protection programs from driving a commercial passenger vehicle or school bus.

The North Carolina law is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation and some in the motorcoach industry had predicted it could serve as a model for similar laws in other states where activists continue to push for stronger statutes to keep convicted sex offenders away from children, including on buses.

The North Carolina law was instigated and pushed through the state General Assembly by the North Carolina Motorcoach Association. The impetus came at a meeting of the Southeastern Regional Motorcoach Operators Association. (See Sept. 1 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

During the meeting, operators from Florida were commenting on the onerous hoops they were being forced to jump through to comply with rules that grew out of Floridas famous Jessicas Law, which is designed to punish sex offenders and reduce their ability to re-offend.

The rules are costing Florida operators thousands of dollars and hundreds of manhours to get drivers the documentation needed to transport children.

"I realized," said North Carolina Motorcoach Association President Jim Harris, "we do not have a law (in North Carolina) that prohibits sex offenders and (others convicted of serious crimes) from getting a CDL with a P (passenger) or S (school) endorsement.

So, Harris returned home determined to get his state legislature moving on a path toward adopting a law that would prohibit sex offenders and other miscreants from getting a commercial license with a P or S endorsement.

Harris was fortunate to have a lifelong friend whos a member of the North Carolina legislature and he went to him with his idea for a law. He got a welcome reception, and soon Rep. Russell Tucker was drafting a bill.

In Alabama, the link to the legislature was even closer with brothers Payne, aided by Thrasher, coming up with a bill.

Among provisions in the Alabama measure is a requirement that drivers license officials conduct a search of sex offender databases before issuing a CDL with a passenger or school bus endorsement.