NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A219
SPONSOR: Magnarelli TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to registration
information
PURPOSE:
Amends New York State's Vehicle and Traffic Law to ensure conformance
with Federal requirements that limit access to personal information
contained in motor vehicle records.
Clarifies the law so that the release of vehicle records permitted in
Section 202 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law conforms to other statutes
that address the release of vehicle records.
Permits motor vehicle records to be used by legitimate business entities
to assist government agencies and courts, and to combat vehicle fraud
within the insurance and automotive industries.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends paragraph 4(b) of section 202 of the Vehicle and Traf-
fic Law. Specifically, it allows the commissioner, through a competitive
bidding process, to release motor vehicles records to legitimate busi-
nesses for permissible uses under federal law. Currently, buyers of
individual records have access to all federally approved uses of motor
vehicle records while those who have gone through the bid process do
not.
Section 2: Establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Vehicle and Traffic Law provides protection for data being released
by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. However, the current stat-
ute unintentionally impairs a number of valid federally approved uses of
motor vehicle records which are available in most states. This legis-
lation would clarify the statute and conform it to certain enumerated
permissible uses of personal information consistent with the Federal
Driver's Privacy Protection Act. Federal law requires all state depart-
ments of motor vehicles to protect personal information contained in
motor vehicle records, It prohibits the release of personal information
except in those instances where the release meets the requirements of a
limited number of specific exemptions. Under those specific exemptions
the only personal information released is the registrant and title
owner's name and address.
The current statute as written unintentionally impairs a number of valid
legitimate uses of the information which facilitates business and
consumer transactions. With the continued increase in fraud related to
vehicle purchases and automobile insurance the data is used to validate
vehicle ownership and vehicle attributes. This bill is necessary to
prevent fraud and to protect the citizens of New York. This legislation
also establishes standards for permissible use of data which includes:
safety recall, emissions recalls, assisting government and law enforce-
ment agencies, research, statistics, and class action lawsuit settlement
information.
This bill only applies to legitimate businesses that qualify to receive
bulk data from the department of motor vehicles via a biannual bid
contract and must meet security standards and bonding and insurance
requirements of the DMV.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2016: S.6670/A.9020a - Advancedto 3rd Reading/Committed to Rules
2017-2018: A.8414- Referred to Transportation
2019-2020: A.3765- Referred to Transportation
2021-2022: A.1289- Referred to Transportation
2023-2024: A.220 -Referred to Transportation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The adoption of this bill ensures that the revenue generated through the
bidding process continues to be received by the state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
219
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to registration
information
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 4 of section 202 of the vehi-
2 cle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 293 of the laws of 1989, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (b) [The commissioner shall notify each vehicle registrant that the
5 registration information specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision
6 has been or will be furnished to the contracting party. The commissioner
7 shall inform each vehicle registrant when such registrant first makes
8 application for a vehicle registration or when such registrant applies
9 to renew an existing vehicle registration how to achieve the deletion of
10 such information from the contracting party's file.] The contract
11 between the commissioner and the contracting party shall provide that,
12 [upon the request of the registrant made in such manner and in such form
13 as shall be prescribed by the commissioner,] such registration informa-
14 tion shall be deleted from the contracting party's file for all
15 purposes, except: [(i) issuance of manufacturer's warranty, safety
16 recall or similar notices, or (ii) statistical complications.]
17 (i) issuance of manufacturer's warranty, safety recall or similar
18 notices; or
19 (ii) for use in producing statistical reports and research activities,
20 so long as the contracting party does not publish, redisclose, or use
21 the personal information to contact individuals; or
22 (iii) to remove non-owner records from the original records of motor
23 vehicle manufacturers; or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00840-01-5
A. 219 2
1 (iv) for use by any government agency, including any court or law
2 enforcement agency or entity acting on behalf of a government agency in
3 carrying out its functions; or
4 (v) for use in the normal course of business by a legitimate business
5 or its agents or contractors, but only to verify the accuracy of
6 personal information submitted by the individual for the purposes of
7 preventing fraud; or
8 (vi) for use by any insurer or by a self-insured entity, or its
9 agents, employees, or contractors, in connection with motor vehicle
10 claims investigation activities, antifraud activities, rating or under-
11 writing.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to
13 contracts executed on or after such effective date.
