The New York State Senate

                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  2862

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            January 20, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced  by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit-
  tee on Codes

AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in  relation  to  permitting
  the  electronic  filing  of  papers  in  local  criminal courts, where
  authorized by law

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision  5  of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure
law, as separately amended by chapters 315, 383 and 729 of the  laws  of
1972, is amended to read as follows:
  [5.  "Simplified traffic information" means a written accusation, more
fully defined and described in article one hundred, by a police  officer
or  other  public  servant authorized by law to issue same, filed with a
local criminal court,  which,  being  in  a  brief  or  simplified  form
prescribed  by the commissioner of motor vehicles, charges a person with
one or more traffic infractions or misdemeanors relating to traffic, and
which may serve both to commence a criminal action for such offense  and
as a basis for prosecution thereof.]
  S  2.  Paragraph  (b) of subdivision 5 of section 1.20 of the criminal
procedure law, as amended by chapter 661 of the laws of 1972, is amended
to read as follows:
  (b) "Simplified  traffic  information"  means  a  written  accusation,
INCLUDING  AN  ACCUSATION WRITTEN IN ELECTRONIC FORM WHERE AUTHORIZED BY
LAW, by a police officer, or other public servant authorized by  law  to
issue  same,  more  fully  defined and described in article one hundred,
filed with a local criminal court, which, being in a brief or simplified
form prescribed by the commissioner of motor vehicles, charges a  person
with  one  or more traffic infractions or misdemeanors relating to traf-
fic, and which may serve both to commence a  criminal  action  for  such
offense and as a basis for prosecution thereof.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02655-02-1

A. 2862                             2

  S  3.  Subdivision 17 of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law is
amended to read as follows:
  17.  "Commencement of criminal action." A criminal action is commenced
by the filing, INCLUDING FILING BY ELECTRONIC MEANS WHERE AUTHORIZED  BY
LAW,  of  an  accusatory  instrument  against  a defendant in a criminal
court, and, if more than one  accusatory  instrument  is  filed  in  the
course of the action, it commences when the first of such instruments is
filed.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.