Includes in the class E felony of vehicular assault in the second degree, the causing of serious physical injury while operating a vehicle with suspended, revoked or no license.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3536A
SPONSOR: Markey (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to including within the
offense of vehicular assault in the second degree, the causing of seri-
ous injury while knowingly operating a motor vehicle with a revoked or
suspended license or while not holding a license and establishing the
offense of vehicular homicide
PURPOSE:
Includes in a class E felony of vehicular assault in the second degree,
the causing of serious physical injury or death while operating a vehi-
cle with suspended, revoked or no license, and creates the crime of
vehicular homicide, a class D felony.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends Section 120.03 of the penal law to
provide that a person has committed vehicular assault in the second
degree when he or she causes serious physical injury to another person
by operation of a motor vehicle while knowing or having reason to know
that his or her license or privilege of operating a motor vehicle is
suspended or revoked pursuant to subdivision two or two-a of section
five hundred ten or subdivisions one or three of section five hundred
ten-a of the vehicle and traffic law for conduct relating to the opera-
tion of a motor vehicle; or he or she is not duly licensed.
Section two of the bill amends the opening paragraph of section 120.04,
limiting the crime of vehicular assault in the first degree to only
those actions listed in subdivision one of section 120.03 when such
additional aggravating factors apply as provided in section 120.04
Section three of the bill adds a new section 125.16 to the penal law
creating the crime of vehicular homicide, providing that a person is
guilty of the crime when he or she causes the death of another person
while operating a motor vehicle while knowing or having reason to know
that his or her license or privilege of operating a motor vehicle is
suspended or revoked pursuant to subdivision two or two-a of section
five hundred ten or five hundred ten-a of the vehicle and traffic law
for conduct relating to the operation of a motor vehicle; or he or she
is not duly licensed.
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent months, more attention has been paid to the fact that drivers
with suspended licenses in New York State are still getting behind the
wheel - and killing people. Ten percent of all crashes in New York are
caused by drivers with suspended or revoked licenses, and 75 percent of
those drivers still get behind the wheel.
Often, these drivers are suspended for reasons related to traffic safe-
ty. They are a menace to pedestrians like Noshat Nahian, the eight year
old third grader at PS 152 who lost his life when he was hit by a trac-
tor trailer while crossing Northern Boulevard at 61st Street, and to
other drivers on the road. Licenses are suspended for a reason: these
people should not be behind the wheel of a vehicle.
It is illegal to drive a vehicle on a street or highway without a valid
driver's license. The right to operate a motor vehicle is granted by the
state, and its use depends upon the motorist complying with the condi-
tions prescribed in granting the license.
While we cannot turn back the clock on past accidents due to driving
with a suspended license, we can make it more difficult for people to
engage in this activity in the future. We must redouble our efforts to
make our streets safer, including bringing chronically reckless drivers
to justice.
This legislation would make it a class E felony for drivers who drive
unlicensed or with a revoked/suspended license to or seriously injure or
a class D felony to kill someone in the process.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A8587/56386 of 2014
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act should take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3536--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MARKEY, LENTOL, McDONOUGH -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to including within the
offense of vehicular assault in the second degree, the causing of
serious injury while knowingly operating a motor vehicle with a
revoked or suspended license or while not holding a license and estab-
lishing the offense of vehicular homicide
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 120.03 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 732
2 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 120.03 Vehicular assault in the second degree.
4 A person is guilty of vehicular assault in the second degree when he
5 or she causes:
6 1. serious physical injury to another person, and either:
7 [(1)] (a) operates a motor vehicle in violation of subdivision two,
8 three, four or four-a of section eleven hundred ninety-two of the vehi-
9 cle and traffic law or operates a vessel or public vessel in violation
10 of paragraph (b), (c), (d) or (e) of subdivision two of section forty-
11 nine-a of the navigation law, and as a result of such intoxication or
12 impairment by the use of a drug, or by the combined influence of drugs
13 or of alcohol and any drug or drugs, operates such motor vehicle, vessel
14 or public vessel in a manner that causes such serious physical injury to
15 such other person, or
16 [(2)](b) operates a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating
17 of more than eighteen thousand pounds which contains flammable gas,
18 radioactive materials or explosives in violation of subdivision one of
19 section eleven hundred ninety-two of the vehicle and traffic law, and
20 such flammable gas, radioactive materials or explosives is the cause of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05721-05-5
A. 3536--A 2
1 such serious physical injury, and as a result of such impairment by the
2 use of alcohol, operates such motor vehicle in a manner that causes such
3 serious physical injury to such other person, or
4 [(3)] (c) operates a snowmobile in violation of paragraph (b), (c) or
5 (d) of subdivision one of section 25.24 of the parks, recreation and
6 historic preservation law or operates an all terrain vehicle as defined
7 in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section twenty-two hundred eight-
8 y-one of the vehicle and traffic law and in violation of subdivision
9 two, three, four, or four-a of section eleven hundred ninety-two of the
10 vehicle and traffic law, and as a result of such intoxication or impair-
11 ment by the use of a drug, or by the combined influence of drugs or of
12 alcohol and any drug or drugs, operates such snowmobile or all terrain
13 vehicle in a manner that causes such serious physical injury to such
14 other person.
15 If it is established that the person operating such motor vehicle,
16 vessel, public vessel, snowmobile or all terrain vehicle caused such
17 serious physical injury while unlawfully intoxicated or impaired by the
18 use of alcohol or a drug, then there shall be a rebuttable presumption
19 that, as a result of such intoxication or impairment by the use of alco-
20 hol or a drug, or by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and
21 any drug or drugs, such person operated the motor vehicle, vessel,
22 public vessel, snowmobile or all terrain vehicle in a manner that caused
23 such serious physical injury, as required by this [section.] subdivi-
24 sion; or
25 2. serious physical injury to another person, while operating a motor
26 vehicle, knowing or having reason to know that his or her license to or
27 privilege to operate a motor vehicle is suspended or revoked pursuant to
28 subdivision two or two-a of section five hundred ten or subdivision one
29 or three of section five hundred ten-a of the vehicle and traffic law
30 for conduct relating to the operation of a motor vehicle, or knowing or
31 having reason to know that he or she is not licensed to operate a motor
32 vehicle on a public highway pursuant to the vehicle and traffic law.
33 Vehicular assault in the second degree is a class E felony.
34 § 2. The opening paragraph of section 120.04 of the penal law, as
35 amended by chapter 496 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as
36 follows:
37 A person is guilty of vehicular assault in the first degree when he or
38 she commits the crime of vehicular assault in the second degree as
39 defined in subdivision one of section 120.03 of this article, and
40 either:
41 § 3. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 125.16 to read
42 as follows:
43 § 125.16 Vehicular homicide.
44 A person is guilty of vehicular homicide when he or she causes the
45 death of another person, while operating a motor vehicle, knowing or
46 having reason to know that his or her license to or privilege to operate
47 a motor vehicle is suspended or revoked pursuant to subdivision two or
48 two-a of section five hundred ten or subdivision one or three of section
49 five hundred ten-a of the vehicle and traffic law for conduct relating
50 to the operation of a motor vehicle, or knowing or having reason to know
51 that he or she is not licensed to operate a motor vehicle on a public
52 highway pursuant to the vehicle and traffic law.
53 Vehicular homicide is a class D felony.
54 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
55 it shall have become a law.
