Directs the commissioner of DMV to establish a sex trafficking awareness and prevention program to provide education and awareness literature and educational materials to trade schools, community colleges, agencies, public or private schools or persons offering instruction in the operation of commercial motor vehicles with a commercial motor vehicle license and requires applicants for commercial driver's licenses submit a certificate for completion of such program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2399--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to establishing
a sex trafficking awareness and prevention program
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 224-b to read as follows:
3 § 224-b. Sex trafficking awareness and prevention program. (a) The
4 commissioner, in conjunction with the interagency task force on human
5 trafficking, the commissioner of the division of criminal justice
6 services and the commissioner of transportation, shall implement a sex
7 trafficking awareness and prevention program within the curriculum
8 requirements for all commercial driver licenses. The sex trafficking
9 awareness and prevention program shall be established for the purpose of
10 providing education and awareness for the prevention of sex trafficking
11 in this state. The program curriculum shall utilize existing materials
12 from a nationally recognized anti-trafficking organization. The program
13 shall provide education and awareness literature and educational materi-
14 als to all trade schools, community colleges, agencies, public or
15 private schools or persons offering instruction in the operation of
16 commercial motor vehicles. The program shall include a minimum of thirty
17 minutes of training. The materials shall include, but not be limited to,
18 warning signs of potential sex trafficking and entities to whom a driver
19 may report suspected activity that might constitute sex trafficking.
20 The commissioner may coordinate with the interagency task force on human
21 trafficking in providing relevant literature and materials to such trade
22 schools, community colleges, agencies, public or private schools or
23 persons offering instruction in the operation of commercial motor vehi-
24 cles.
25 (b) The commissioner may additionally coordinate with the interagency
26 task force on human trafficking: (i) to collect and organize data on the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06474-04-5
S. 2399--A 2
1 nature and extent of trafficking in persons in the state; (ii) to iden-
2 tify available federal, state and local programs to provide services to
3 victims of trafficking; (iii) to consult with governmental and non-go-
4 vernmental organizations in developing recommendations to strengthen
5 state and local efforts to prevent trafficking; (iv) to measure and
6 evaluate the state's progress in preventing trafficking, and prosecuting
7 persons engaged in trafficking; and (v) to evaluate the effectiveness of
8 the sex trafficking awareness and prevention program.
9 (c) The commissioner shall report annually on the program's effective-
10 ness in its annual report.
11 (d) For purposes of this section, "interagency task force on human
12 trafficking" shall mean the interagency task force on human trafficking
13 established by section four hundred eighty-three-ee of the social
14 services law.
15 (e) To effectuate the purposes of this section, the commissioner may
16 request and shall receive from any department, division, board, bureau,
17 commission or other agency of the state or any state public authority
18 such assistance, information and data as will enable the sex trafficking
19 awareness and prevention program to properly carry out its powers and
20 duties.
21 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 502 of the vehicle and traffic law, as
22 separately amended by chapters 158 and 440 of the laws of 2021, is
23 amended to read as follows:
24 1. Application for license. Application for a driver's license shall
25 be made to the commissioner. The fee prescribed by law may be submitted
26 with such application. The applicant shall furnish such proof of identi-
27 ty, age, and fitness as may be required by the commissioner. With
28 respect to a non-commercial driver's license or learner's permit which
29 does not meet federal standards for identification, in addition to the
30 acceptable proofs of age and identity approved by the commissioner as of
31 January first, two thousand nineteen, acceptable proof of identity shall
32 also include, but not be limited to, a valid, unexpired foreign passport
33 issued by the applicant's country of citizenship (which shall also be
34 eligible as proof of age), a valid, unexpired consular identification
35 document issued by a consulate from the applicant's country of citizen-
36 ship, or a valid foreign driver's license that includes a photo image of
37 the applicant and which is unexpired or expired for less than twenty-
38 four months of its date of expiration, as primary forms of such proof.
39 Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be deemed to preclude the
40 commissioner from approving additional proofs of identity and age. The
41 license shall display the sex designation of M, F, or X as certified by
42 the applicant, with no additional documentation required. The applicant
43 may amend the sex designation of their driver's license upon request.
44 Upon amendment of the sex designation, the change shall be made consist-
45 ent through all affiliated records within the control of the department.
46 The commissioner may also provide that the application procedure shall
47 include the taking of a photo image or images of the applicant in
48 accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner. In
49 addition, the commissioner also shall require that the applicant provide
50 such applicant's social security number or, in lieu thereof, with
51 respect to an application for a non-commercial driver's license or
52 learner's permit which does not meet federal standards for identifica-
53 tion, an affidavit signed by such applicant that they have not been
54 issued a social security number. The commissioner also shall provide
55 space on the application so that the applicant may request a notation
56 upon such license that such applicant is a veteran of the United States
S. 2399--A 3
1 armed forces, and space on the application so that the applicant may
2 request a notation upon such license that [he or she] such applicant is
3 a veteran of the United States armed forces, and space on the applica-
4 tion so that the applicant may register in the New York state organ and
5 tissue donor registry under section forty-three hundred ten of the
6 public health law with the following stated on the application in clear
7 and conspicuous type:
8 "You must fill out the following section: Would you like to be added
9 to the Donate Life Registry? Check box for 'yes' or 'skip this ques-
10 tion'."
11 The commissioner of health shall not maintain records of any person
12 who checks "skip this question". Except where the application is made in
13 person or electronically, failure to check a box shall not impair the
14 validity of an application, and failure to check "yes" or checking "skip
15 this question" shall not be construed to imply a wish not to donate. In
16 the case of an applicant under eighteen years of age, checking "yes"
17 shall not constitute consent to make an anatomical gift or registration
18 in the donate life registry, except as otherwise provided pursuant to
19 the provisions of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section forty-
20 three hundred one of the public health law. Where an applicant has
21 previously consented to make an anatomical gift or registered in the
22 donate life registry, checking "skip this question" or failing to check
23 a box shall not impair that consent or registration. In addition, an
24 applicant for a commercial driver's license who will operate a commer-
25 cial motor vehicle in interstate commerce shall certify that such appli-
26 cant meets the requirements to operate a commercial motor vehicle, as
27 set forth in public law 99-570, title XII, and title 49 of the code of
28 federal regulations, and all regulations promulgated by the United
29 States secretary of transportation under the hazardous materials trans-
30 portation act. In addition, an applicant for a commercial driver's
31 license shall submit a medical certificate at such intervals as required
32 by the federal motor carrier safety improvement act of 1999 and Part
33 383.71(h) of title 49 of the code of federal regulations relating to
34 medical certification and in a manner prescribed by the commissioner.
35 For purposes of this section and sections five hundred three, five
36 hundred ten-a, and five hundred ten-aa of this title, the terms "medical
37 certificate" and "medical certification" shall mean a form substantially
38 in compliance with the form set forth in Part 391.43(h) of title 49 of
39 the code of federal regulations. Upon a determination that the holder of
40 a commercial driver's license has made any false statement, with respect
41 to the application for such license, the commissioner shall revoke such
42 license. In addition, an applicant for a commercial driver's license
43 shall submit a certificate for completing the sex trafficking awareness
44 and prevention program established under section two hundred twenty-
45 four-b of this chapter.
46 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
47 have become a law; provided, however, subdivision (c) of section 224-b
48 of the vehicle and traffic law, as added by section one of this act and
49 section two of this act, shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth
50 day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addi-
51 tion, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for
52 the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to
53 be made and completed on or before such effective date.
