Establishes a commercial driver's license (CDL) class A young adult training program for qualified 18-20 year olds; provides for the repeal of the act if any federal agency or court determines that the act would render the state ineligible for receipt of federal funds.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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5486--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 8, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, HINCHEY, RAMOS -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Trans-
portation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the transportation law,
in relation to establishing a commercial driver's license (CDL) class
A young adult training program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 2 of section 502 of
2 the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 520 of the laws of
3 1991, are amended to read as follows:
4 (a) An applicant for a [class A license or for a] commercial driver's
5 license which contains an H or an X endorsement or which is valid for
6 operation in interstate commerce shall be at least twenty-one years of
7 age.
8 (b) Except as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdivision an appli-
9 cant for a class A, B, C or E license shall be at least eighteen years
10 of age.
11 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 502 of the vehicle and traffic law is
12 amended by adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:
13 (d) The commissioner shall not issue a class A commercial driver's
14 license to a person who is eighteen, nineteen or twenty years old
15 unless, in addition to meeting the requirements of this chapter with
16 respect to the issuance of commercial driver's licenses, such person
17 submits acceptable proof of successful completion of the commercial
18 driver's license (CDL) class A young adult training program established
19 by the commissioner of transportation pursuant to subdivision thirty-six
20 of section fourteen of the transportation law, and proof of completion
21 of the minimum hours of supervised driving required by such subdivision.
22 The commissioner shall place an "intrastate only" restriction on any
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10374-05-1
S. 5486--A 2
1 class A commercial driver's license issued to a person who is eighteen,
2 nineteen or twenty years old and such restriction shall remain until
3 such person turns twenty-one years of age.
4 § 3. Section 14 of the transportation law is amended by adding a new
5 subdivision 36 to read as follows:
6 36. (a) To promulgate, in consultation with the commissioner of motor
7 vehicles, rules and regulations to establish and implement a commercial
8 driver's license (CDL) class A young adult training program for class A
9 commercial driver's license applicants who are eighteen, nineteen or
10 twenty years old.
11 (b) Such rules and regulations shall be no less protective of public
12 safety than the rules and regulations promulgated by the federal motor
13 carrier safety administration with respect to the training of entry-lev-
14 el commercial motor vehicle operators. Such rules and regulations shall:
15 (i) set forth the requirements of, and criteria to be included in, the
16 training program which shall be no less than the entry-level driver
17 training requirements prescribed by the federal motor carrier safety
18 administration under Appendices A, C, D and E of part 380 of title 49 of
19 the Code of Federal Regulations, as may be amended from time to time;
20 and
21 (ii) include no less than three hundred hours of behind-the-wheel
22 training under the immediate supervision and control of an experienced
23 driver.
24 (c) For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms shall have
25 the following meanings:
26 (i) "Young adult" shall mean an individual who is eighteen, nineteen
27 or twenty years old.
28 (ii) "Experienced driver" shall mean an individual who:
29 (A) is not less than twenty-one years of age;
30 (B) holds a valid class A commercial driver's license which is not
31 suspended, revoked or cancelled pursuant to the provisions of this chap-
32 ter, the vehicle and traffic law, or rules and regulations promulgated
33 thereunder and has held such commercial driver's license for at least
34 two years;
35 (C) has not, for at least a one-year period: been the operator of a
36 motor vehicle involved in an accident reportable to the federal motor
37 carrier safety administration, or been the operator of a commercial
38 motor vehicle involved in an accident reportable to the commissioner of
39 motor vehicles, or been convicted of a serious traffic violation, or
40 been convicted of any violation of title VII of the vehicle and traffic
41 law for which the commissioner of motor vehicles assesses points, or
42 been disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle pursuant to
43 this chapter, the vehicle and traffic law, or rules and regulations
44 promulgated thereunder; and
45 (D) has a minimum of one year of experience driving, in commerce, a
46 commercial motor vehicle which can only be operated with a class A
47 commercial driver's license.
48 (iii) "Serious traffic violation" shall have the same meaning as such
49 term is defined in subdivision four of section five hundred ten-a of the
50 vehicle and traffic law.
51 § 4. This act shall be deemed repealed if any federal agency deter-
52 mines in writing that this act would render New York state ineligible
53 for the receipt of federal funds or any court of competent jurisdiction
54 finally determines that this act would render New York state out of
55 compliance with federal law or regulation.
S. 5486--A 3
1 § 5. Severability. If any clause, sentence, subdivision, paragraph,
2 section or part of this act be adjudged by any court of competent juris-
3 diction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invali-
4 date the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to
5 the clause, sentence, subdivision, paragraph, section or part thereof
6 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
7 been rendered.
8 § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
9 it shall have become a law; provided that the commissioner of transpor-
10 tation shall notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon the
11 occurrence of the repeal of this act provided for in section four of
12 this act in order that the commission may maintain an accurate and time-
13 ly effective data base of the official text of the laws of the state of
14 New York in furtherance of effectuating the provisions of section 44 of
15 the legislative law and section 70-b of the public officers law.
