NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2325
SPONSOR: Jones TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to allowing
disclosures in furtherance of the enforcement of state law
PURPOSE:
To provide agencies with the ability to better secure the international
borders and enforce state and federal criminal law by allowing them
access to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicle database.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the vehicle and traffic law by creating an exception
for the limited disclosure for agencies that primarily enforce immi-
gration law or any employee or agent of such an agency, allowing them to
access information when enforcing state law or federal criminal law and
not immigration law.
Section 2 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In rural areas, especially those that share a border with Canada, feder-
al officials are tasked with not only keeping lengthy stretches of the
border, as well as ports of entry secure, they are often first respon-
ders to emergency situations. In order to effectively do their job,
quick access to certain information from the New York State Department
of Motor Vehicles is imperative. Following the passage of A.3675-B these
federal agents no longer have access to this information, leaving their
hands tied to properly respond. This poses a safety risk to federal
agents and to those who live in the areas surrounding the Canadian
border. This law would create an exception for federal agencies in cases
where the information is necessary to enforce state law or federal crim-
inal law regarding various forms of human trafficking, smuggling, as
well as arms and drug trafficking, but not immigration law.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
03/12/20 referred to transportation
01/08/21 referred to transportation
01/05/22 referred to transportation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
