Prohibits certain entities from engaging in the business of assisting for hire in securing motor vehicle registrations or, for compensation, giving instructions as to procuring motor vehicle registrations.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
461
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to prohibiting
certain entities from engaging in the business of securing motor vehi-
cle registrations or giving instructions as to procuring motor vehicle
registrations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 395 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by
2 chapter 124 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 395. Certain private service bureaus to be licensed. Except as
4 otherwise provided herein, no person, firm, association or corporation
5 shall, engage in the business of assisting for hire in securing licenses
6 to drive motor vehicles or registrations or titles of motor vehicles,
7 nor shall any person, firm, association or corporation for compensation
8 give instructions as to procuring licenses to drive motor vehicles or
9 registrations or titles of motor vehicles, without being the holder of a
10 license for such purpose issued by the commissioner of motor vehicles.
11 An applicant for a license shall furnish the commissioner with such
12 information and such references as to moral character as [he] such
13 commissioner may reasonably require. Every application shall be accompa-
14 nied by a fee of twenty-five dollars, which shall be regarded as an
15 application fee and shall in no event be refunded. If an application be
16 approved by the commissioner, the applicant upon the payment of an addi-
17 tional fee of twenty-five dollars shall be granted a license which shall
18 expire on the thirtieth day of June following the date of its issuance.
19 The commissioner shall issue a license certificate to each licensee
20 which certificate shall be conspicuously displayed in the place of busi-
21 ness of the licensee, or, if the licensee has no place of business, such
22 certificates shall be exhibited at the request of any person. In case of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02469-01-5
A. 461 2
1 the loss, mutilation or destruction of a certificate, the commissioner
2 shall issue a duplicate upon proof of the facts and the payment of a fee
3 of one dollar. The refusal to issue a license may be reviewed by a
4 proceeding under article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and
5 rules. Such license shall be renewed annually upon the payment of a fee
6 of twenty-five dollars, such renewal to take effect on the first day of
7 July in each year. Upon renewal, the commissioner may, in [his] at such
8 commissioner's discretion, issue a license which shall be valid for a
9 two year period. The fee for any such two year renewal shall be fifty
10 dollars.
11 No license shall be issued under this section nor shall any renewal of
12 a license issued under this section be made for conducting business in a
13 city having a population of fifty thousand or more, according to the
14 latest federal census if the place of business of the licensee, or
15 branch thereof, is within fifteen hundred feet of a building, owned or
16 leased by the state, a county or a city, in which motor vehicle regis-
17 trations or licenses to drive motor vehicles are issued to the public.
18 The said distance of fifteen hundred feet shall be measured along the
19 public streets by the nearest route from such place of business, or
20 branch thereof, to such building. The provisions of this paragraph shall
21 not apply to a holder of a certificate of registration issued pursuant
22 to section four hundred fifteen of this chapter.
23 No license shall be issued under this section nor shall any renewal of
24 a license issued under this section be made for a person, firm, associ-
25 ation or corporation who engages in the business of assisting for hire
26 in securing motor vehicle registrations or who, for compensation, give
27 instructions as to procuring motor vehicle registrations. The provisions
28 of this paragraph shall not apply to a holder of a license issued pursu-
29 ant to section three hundred ninety-four of this article or the holder
30 of a certificate of registration issued pursuant to section four hundred
31 fifteen of this chapter.
32 A licensee shall be subject to such reasonable regulations concerning
33 the business conducted under [his] such licensee's license as the
34 commissioner may prescribe and [he] such licensee shall permit the
35 commissioner, or [his] such commissioner's representatives, to inspect
36 [his] such licensee's place of business on any business day and shall
37 furnish to the commissioner, or [his] such commissioner's represen-
38 tative, such information concerning the conduct of the business as may
39 be reasonably required.
40 The provisions of subdivisions five and six of section three hundred
41 ninety-four of this [chapter] article shall be applicable with respect
42 to this section.
43 The holder of a license issued pursuant to section three hundred nine-
44 ty-four of this [chapter] article or the holder of a certificate of
45 registration issued pursuant to section four hundred fifteen of this
46 chapter shall not be required to secure a license under this section in
47 order to conduct a business for which a license is required by this
48 section but any such licensee, or registrant, who shall conduct such
49 business, shall be subject to the same visitation and regulation by the
50 commissioner with reference to such business as provided in this section
51 with respect to a licensee under this section.
52 As used in this section the phrase "licenses to drive motor vehicles"
53 includes the term "learners' permits".
54 A violation of any of the provisions of this section shall constitute
55 a misdemeanor.
56 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
