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S09361 Summary:

BILL NOS09361
 
SAME ASSAME AS A08557
 
SPONSORCOONEY
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §1229-c, V & T L
 
Requires that seat belts be available and used on charter buses for persons age 8 through 16.
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S09361 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          9361
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                      May 14, 2024
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen.  COONEY -- 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  seat  belts
          on charter buses
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision 3-d to read as follows:
     3    3-d. (a) No person sixteen years of age or older shall be a  passenger
     4  in  a  charter  bus  unless  such  person is restrained by a safety belt
     5  approved by the commissioner.
     6    (b) No person eight years of age or older but under age sixteen  shall
     7  be  a  passenger  in a charter bus unless such person is restrained by a
     8  safety belt approved by the commissioner. A police  officer  shall  only
     9  issue a summons for a violation of this paragraph to the parent or guar-
    10  dian  of such person if the violation by such person occurs in the pres-
    11  ence of such person's parent or guardian and where such parent or guard-
    12  ian is eighteen years of age or older. Such summons shall only be issued
    13  to such parent or guardian and shall not be issued to the  person  eight
    14  years of age or older but under age sixteen.
    15    §  2. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 4 of section 1229-c of the
    16  vehicle and traffic law, as separately amended by chapters 232  and  509
    17  of  the laws of 2004, are amended and two new paragraphs (d) and (e) are
    18  added to read as follows:
    19    (b) "child restraint system" shall mean any device, used  in  conjunc-
    20  tion with safety belts, designed for use in a motor vehicle to restrain,
    21  seat,  or position children and which meets the applicable Federal Motor
    22  Vehicle Safety Standards set forth in 49 C.F.R. 571.213; [and]
    23    (c) "appropriate child restraint system" shall mean a child  restraint
    24  system  for which the occupant meets the occupant size and weight recom-
    25  mendations of the manufacturer of such system[.];
    26    (d) "charter bus" shall mean a bus manufactured  or  assembled  on  or
    27  after  November twenty-eighth, two thousand sixteen transporting passen-
    28  gers for compensation in a chartered party; and
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13986-01-4

        S. 9361                             2
 
     1    (e) "chartered party" shall mean a group of persons who, pursuant to a
     2  common purpose and under a single contract and at a fixed  charge,  have
     3  acquired  exclusive  use  of  a  bus  to travel together as a group to a
     4  specific destination or for a particular itinerary either agreed upon in
     5  advance or modified after having left the place of origin by such group.
     6    § 3. Subdivisions 5 and 9 of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic
     7  law,  subdivision  5  as  amended  by  chapter 38   and subdivision 9 as
     8  amended by chapter 8 of the  laws  of  2020,  are  amended  to  read  as
     9  follows:
    10    5.  Any  person  who  violates  the  provisions  of subdivision three,
    11  three-c, three-d or ten-a of this section shall be punished by  a  civil
    12  fine  of  up to fifty dollars. Any person who violates the provisions of
    13  subdivision one, two, eleven  or  thirteen  of  this  section  shall  be
    14  punished  by a civil fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one
    15  hundred dollars. In any prosecution or proceeding alleging  a  violation
    16  of  paragraph (b) of subdivision one or paragraph (c) of subdivision two
    17  of this section, it shall be an affirmative defense that  the  passenger
    18  subject to the requirements of such paragraphs was restrained by a safe-
    19  ty  belt  and  measures more than four feet nine inches in height and/or
    20  weighs more than one hundred pounds. In any  prosecution  or  proceeding
    21  alleging  a  violation  of paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of subdivision
    22  three-c of this section, it shall be an affirmative  defense  that  such
    23  taxi  or  livery was in violation of subdivision four-b of section three
    24  hundred eighty-three of this chapter.  In any prosecution or  proceeding
    25  alleging a violation of subdivision three-d of this section, it shall be
    26  an  affirmative defense that such charter bus was not equipped with seat
    27  belts, or such seat belts were not clearly visible, accessible, or main-
    28  tained in good working order.
    29    9. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision four of this section,
    30  (a) the provisions of this section shall not apply to buses  other  than
    31  school  buses,  except  as  otherwise provided in subdivision three-d of
    32  this section and except that the provisions of  subdivision  three-a  of
    33  this  section  shall be applicable to any person operating a charter bus
    34  and to charter bus passengers age eight or older, and (b) the provisions
    35  of subdivisions one, two, three and three-a of this  section  shall  not
    36  apply  to  taxis  and liveries except that the provisions of subdivision
    37  three-a of this section shall be applicable to any  person  operating  a
    38  taxi or livery and to taxi and livery passengers age eight or older.
    39    § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    40  it shall have become a law.
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