Establishes that the department of motor vehicles shall notify individuals via postal mail or electronic notification that their vehicle inspection is subject to expiration thirty days before such expiration; provides for a five day grace period after the expiration of the vehicle inspection certificate wherein operators of such vehicle shall not be fined.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2388
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. FELDER -- 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 requiring
vehicle inspection renewal notification thirty days prior to expira-
tion
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 306 of the vehicle and
2 traffic law, as amended by chapter 608 of the laws of 1993, are amended
3 and a new subdivision (g) is added to read as follows:
4 (a) The commissioner shall suspend or prohibit the renewal of the
5 registration of any motor vehicle for which a certificate or certif-
6 icates of inspection has or have not been obtained as required by this
7 article, or the regulations promulgated thereunder, or which is not
8 repaired within the period designated under subdivision (b) of section
9 three hundred four of this article [(b)]; provided however, the commis-
10 sioner shall waive the requirement for any repairs to an emissions
11 system beyond the expenditure amount permitted by federal law and regu-
12 lations once the amount has been expended, and provided further that the
13 commissioner shall provide for suitable notice of an impending
14 inspection expiration in accordance with subdivision (g) of this
15 section. The commissioner shall provide for an appeal from a determi-
16 nation related to a request that the repair requirement be waived. No
17 such notice or waiver shall apply to classes of vehicles for which such
18 waiver would be prohibited pursuant to a final decree of a federal
19 court.
20 (b) No motor vehicle shall be operated or parked on the public high-
21 ways of this state unless a certificate or certificates of inspection,
22 as required by this article, is or are displayed upon the vehicle or
23 affixed to the registration certificate for the vehicle as may be deter-
24 mined by the commissioner. The commissioner may, by regulation, provide
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01924-01-5
S. 2388 2
1 for a temporary indicia of inspection to be placed on a motor vehicle
2 which shall be valid as a certificate of inspection for a period not to
3 exceed fifteen days upon the loss, theft, mutilation or destruction of a
4 certificate of inspection. Any violation of this section that occurs
5 while a motor vehicle is parked on the public highways of this state
6 shall constitute a parking violation. Every agreement for the lease or
7 rental of a motor vehicle for a period of not more than thirty days
8 shall be deemed to provide that the lessor of such vehicle shall, in all
9 respects, be substituted for the lessee or any person operating the
10 vehicle in conformity with the lease or rental agreement in connection
11 with any charge of violating this section, provided that any summons
12 issued to the operator for violation of this section is turned over to
13 the lessor. A violation of this subdivision shall be punishable by a
14 fine of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars for a
15 first offense, and by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two
16 hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than fifteen days, or by
17 both such fine and imprisonment, for each subsequent offense; provided
18 however, that if the vehicle bears a certificate or certificates of
19 inspection which was or were valid within sixty days, such violations
20 shall be punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than
21 fifty dollars; and provided further, that if a personal use passenger
22 motor vehicle bears a certificate or certificates of inspection which
23 was or were valid within the past five days it shall be an affirmative
24 defense to such violation and no violation shall have occurred; and
25 provided further that if [the] such vehicle bears a certificate or
26 certificates of inspection which was or were valid within [the last] no
27 fewer than six days and no more than sixty days, such violation shall be
28 punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than fifty
29 dollars.
30 (g) (1) The commissioner shall notify every owner of a personal use
31 passenger motor vehicle registered in this state that their vehicle
32 inspection is subject to expiration thirty days before such expiration.
33 Such notice may be provided electronically to an owner of such motor
34 vehicle who has affirmatively consented or requested to be contacted by
35 electronic means of communication in a form prescribed by the commis-
36 sioner, or upon determination that sufficient appropriations are avail-
37 able, by mailing of such notice to the address of an owner of such motor
38 vehicle who has not affirmatively consented to communication by elec-
39 tronic means.
40 (2) The renewal notification shall include without limitation the
41 following details: (i) a brief description of the motor vehicle that has
42 an inspection that needs to be renewed, including the vehicle owner's
43 name and residence, together with the plate designation and the plate
44 type as shown by the registration plates of such vehicle and the expira-
45 tion date; the make or model, and body type of such vehicle; the name
46 and factory number of such vehicle, and such other facts as the commis-
47 sioner shall require;
48 (ii) notification that such inspection shall expire at the end of the
49 current month; and
50 (iii) such additional facts or evidence as the commissioner may
51 require in connection with the form of the notification.
52 (3) The commissioner shall register the notifications sent regarding
53 such motor vehicles and shall maintain a record of such notifications
54 and the addresses to which such notifications were sent. The production
55 of a copy of a notice issued by the department, together with an elec-
56 tronically-generated record of entry of such notice upon the appropriate
S. 2388 3
1 owner's registration file of the department and an affidavit by an
2 employee designated by the commissioner as having responsibility for the
3 issuance of such notice issued by the department setting forth the
4 procedure for the issuance and the mailing of such notice at the address
5 of such person on file with the department, including electronic address
6 or telephone number for owners who have affirmatively consented to
7 communication by electronic means, shall be presumptive evidence that
8 such notice of inspection expiration was produced and mailed in accord-
9 ance with such procedures.
10 (4) The commissioner may promulgate such regulations and procedures as
11 shall be necessary to effectuate the provisions of this subdivision.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
13 the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the
14 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
15 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
16 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
