The Montgomery County Legislature held its regular meeting on Tuesday. From the left is District 5 Legislator Daniel Wilson, District 7 Legislator Michael Pepe, District 8 Legislator Joseph Isabel and District 9 Legislator Robert Purtell. (The Leader-Herald/Briana O'Hara)

FONDA — Local representatives continue to work toward creating laws and regulations that will enhance the safety of stretch limousines since the Schoharie limo crash that killed 20 people just over a year ago.

The Montgomery County Legislature passed a resolution during its regular meeting on Tuesday urging the state Senate and state Assembly to take immediate action to put safety mechanisms in place and to improve regulations to ensure the safety of passengers riding in limousines.

“I would hope that our assemblymen, instead of worrying about trash and things like that they would concentrate on something like this where we lost all these people a year ago,” said District 3 Legislator Roy Dimond.

According to the resolution, the Montgomery County Legislature is urging state officials to take immediate action to put safety regulations in place to prevent another similar event from occurring in the future.

“I think it’s time this gets put to bed so the lives lost aren’t lost in vain,” said District 9 Legislator Robert Purtell said.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, U.S. Representative Paul Tonko, U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik introduced three pieces of legislation to increase the safety of stretch limousines for all passengers who ride them.

The three pieces of legislation include the SAFE Limos Act, the Take Unsafe Limos Off the Road Act and End the Limo Loophole Act.

The bipartisan legislation would set new federal stretch limousine safety rules and standards, help get unsafe vehicles off the road and close federal safety loopholes.

The SAFE Limos Act will sets standards for all limousines including safety belt standards, seating system standards, retrofit assessment for exiting limousines, safety standards for altering used vehicles into limousines, limousine compliance with federal safety standards, limousine crash safety, limousine evacuation and limousine inspection disclosure.

The Take Unsafe Limos Off the Road Act will create a new grant program to support states’ efforts to impound or immobilize vehicles that fail inspection for critical safety reasons.

The End the Limo Loophole Act, would ensure that limos comply with commercial motor vehicle safety regulations. The current definition of a commercial motor vehicle is one that is designed to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver; however, vehicles that are altered post-manufacture to accommodated more than 15 passengers fall outside this definition. This act will amend that definition to ensure all vehicles used to transport more than 15 people apply regardless of the initial design.