AUSTIN - The Texas Senate has passed a bill that would require seatbelts on new school buses bought after Sept. 1, 2010, and on motorcoaches carrying Texas school children by 2011.

The legislation, which requires three-point seatbelts, was in direct response to a charter bus rollover in March 2006 that resulted in the death of two female high school soccer players.

The bill was passed unanimously.

"It is time to make this important commitment to our children," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville. "Today school buses are safe, but not safe enough. Buses have a higher center of gravity and are prone to roll over."

The bill does not require school districts to replace existing buses but calls for school buses bought after Sept. 1, 2010, to be equipped with lap-shoulder seatbelts.

The requirement is contingent, however, on lawmakers finding the money to pay for the belts and related expenses. A fiscal note attached to the bill estimates the safety upgrades could cost nearly $580 million in the 2011-12 budget year.

All school buses, including those chartered by school districts or city buses contracted to carry students, would need seatbelts by 2011. The deadline for belts in charter and transit buses had been 2014, but under an amendment presented by Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston it was moved up three years.

Patrick said that most accidents involving students appear to occur in charter buses rather than district-owned buses.

On March 29, 2006, a charter bus transporting the West Brook High School girls' soccer team ran into a ditch and rolled over while dodging debris during a pounding rain. Two players died while others were seriously injured.

The bill now goes to the Texas House, which has passed its own version of the legislation. The House can either agree to the Senate amendments or recommend a joint committee to reconcile the bills.

Another Patrick amendment the Senate adopted requires better reporting of school bus accidents.

The Senate version also requires students riding in buses with seatbelts to wear them. School districts can enforce the rule by adopting disciplinary policies.