STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3240
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. COONEY, GALLIVAN -- 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 drivers of
school buses that are carrying students using hands-free mobile tele-
phones
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 1225-c of the vehicle and traffic
2 law is amended by adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
3 (e) No driver of a school bus as defined in section one hundred
4 forty-two of this chapter shall use a hands-free mobile telephone while
5 operating a school bus that is carrying students except in the case of
6 an emergency pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this
7 section or if the school bus is parked, for purposes other than dropping
8 off or picking up students, at the side of, or off, a public highway in
9 a location where such vehicle is not otherwise prohibited from stopping
10 by law, rule, regulation or any lawful order or direction of a police
11 officer.
12 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 1225-c of the vehicle and traffic law,
13 as added by chapter 69 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as
14 follows:
15 3. Subdivision two of this section shall not apply to (a) the use of a
16 mobile telephone for the sole purpose of communicating with any of the
17 following regarding an emergency situation: an emergency response opera-
18 tor; a hospital, physician's office or health clinic; an ambulance
19 company or corps; a fire department, district or company; or a police
20 department, (b) any of the following persons while in the performance of
21 their official duties: a police officer or peace officer; a member of a
22 fire department, district or company; or the operator of an authorized
23 emergency vehicle as defined in section one hundred one of this chapter,
24 or (c) the use of a hands-free mobile telephone, except in the case of a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00791-01-5
S. 3240 2
1 driver operating a school bus pursuant to paragraph (e) of subdivision
2 two of this section.
3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
4 have become a law.
