STATE OF NEW YORK
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5875
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 3, 2025
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Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the defi-
nitions of the terms "impaired" and "intoxication" for the purposes of
such law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 section 119-c to read as follows:
3 § 119-c. Impaired. Impairment is reached when a driver has voluntarily
4 consumed or ingested a substance or combination of substances to the
5 extent that the driver has impaired, to any extent, the physical and
6 mental abilities which a driver is expected to possess in order to oper-
7 ate a vehicle as a reasonable and prudent driver.
8 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
9 120-a to read as follows:
10 § 120-a. Intoxication. Intoxication is a greater degree of impairment
11 which is reached when a driver has voluntarily consumed or ingested a
12 substance or combination of substances to the extent that the driver is
13 incapable of employing the physical and mental abilities which a driver
14 is expected to possess in order to operate a vehicle as a reasonable and
15 prudent driver.
16 § 3. Section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding
17 a new subdivision 13 to read as follows:
18 13. It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge under any subdivi-
19 sion of this section that the operator suffered an allergic reaction or
20 medical emergency rather than being impaired by the substance or combi-
21 nation of substances. Provided, however, that no defense shall be
22 available if any such consumed or ingested substance is contained in
23 section thirty-three hundred six of the public health law.
24 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
25 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10337-01-5
