BILL NUMBER: S6529

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to increasing
penalties for defaced or obstructed license plates

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to increasing
penalties for defaced or obstructed license plates

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of § 402
of the vehicle and traffic law to add knowingly defacing a license plate
to current law which prohibits knowingly covering or coating with any
artificial or synthetic material or substance that conceals or obscures
license plates or that distorts a recorded or photographic image of
license plates.

              

Section two of the bill amends subdivision 8 of § 402 of the vehicle and
traffic law to alter the penalty for knowingly defacing or covering or
coating with any artificial or synthetic material or substance that
conceals or obscures the license plate or that distorts a recorded or
photographic image of the license plate or obstructing the view of the
license plate by any part of the vehicle or by anything carried thereon,
except where authorized, from a fine between $50 to $300 to a suspension
of the registration of the vehicle for one year pursuant to subdivision
four-h of section five hundred ten of the vehicle and traffic law.

Section three of the bill adds subdivision 4-h to § 510 of the vehicle
and traffic law requiring the New York State Department of Motor Vehi-
cles to suspend the registration of a vehicle upon receipt of a notifi-
cation from a court or administrative tribunal that the owner of the
motor vehicle has violated subparagraph (ii) or (iii) of paragraph (b)
of subdivision one of section four hundred two of the vehicle and traf-
fic law for one year and each subsequent violation shall result in an
additional one-year suspension. This subdivision further provides that
during any period of suspension under this subdivision, the registered
owner of the vehicle shall be prohibited from transferring the ownership
of the vehicle to any other person and also be prohibited from register-
ing any other vehicle.

Section four of the bill provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Red light and speed cameras are safety measures which hold accountable
those who make our roads dangerous while the automatic collection of
tolls provides an efficient way to obtain resources utilized for crit-
ical infrastructure investments used to maintain and improve our road-
ways, airports, and transit systems.However, there are actors taking
steps to avoid the automated enforcement of our traffic laws and the
automatic payment of tolls by using material to prevent an image of the
license plate from being captured.


Therefore, we must take action against the growing trend of traffic
violators who are defacing their vehicle's license plates to avoid it
from being recorded, thus allowing them to avoid the subsequent respon-
sibilities. Unfortunately, such tactics have been wildly successful. An
April 25, 2022 article in THE CITY found that New York City lost approx-
imately $75 million in total revenue because of obstructed license
plates. The article also found the problem getting much worse, with the
instances of unreadable license plates having more than tripled between
January 2016 and December 2021. This correlates with a rise in the
number of traffic deaths and an overall worsening of traffic safety, as
well, according to the article.

This bill would help curb the spread of these offenders by allowing the
state to suspend the registration of any vehicle that is caught with an
item that covers or distorts their license plate.lt also extends the
violation to include vehicle owners which have their license plate
defaced. Increasing the penalty for attempting to dodge automatic traf-
fic enforcement, we could help restore punishment to dangerous drivers
and bring safety back to our streets.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate