Increases the penalties for purposefully obstructed license plates including the suspension of a vehicle's registration if the vehicle owner does not remove the artificial or synthetic material or substance that conceals or obscures the license plate or does not purchase new license plates.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5234
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 7, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, CARROLL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to increasing
the penalties for purposefully obstructed license plates
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 5-a of section 401 of the vehicle and traffic
2 law is amended by adding a new paragraph d to read as follows:
3 d. It shall be unlawful for any person to register, reregister, renew,
4 replace or transfer the registration, change the name, address or other
5 information of the registered owner, or change the registration classi-
6 fication of any vehicle whose vehicle identification number is associ-
7 ated with a vehicle whose registration has been suspended, or is subject
8 to a pending request from a tolling authority to suspend the registra-
9 tion, under paragraph d of subdivision three of section five hundred ten
10 of this chapter and 15 NYCRR 127.14. The commissioner or the commission-
11 er's agent shall impose a vehicle identification number block and deny
12 the registration, reregistration, renewal, replacement or transfer of
13 the registration for such vehicle and vehicle identification number
14 until the tolling authority advises, in such form and manner as the
15 commissioner shall prescribe, that notices of violation have been
16 responded to and any unpaid tolls, fees or other charges associated with
17 the vehicle and the vehicle identification number have been paid to the
18 tolling authority. Where an application is denied pursuant to this para-
19 graph, the commissioner may, in the commissioner's discretion, deny a
20 registration, reregistration, renewal, replacement or transfer of the
21 registration for any other motor vehicle registered in the name of the
22 applicant where the commissioner has determined that such registrant's
23 intent has been to evade the purposes of this paragraph and where the
24 commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe that such registration,
25 reregistration, renewal, replacement or transfer of registration will
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06613-01-3
A. 5234 2
1 have the effect of defeating the purposes of this paragraph. Such vehi-
2 cle identification number block and denial shall only remain in effect
3 until the tolling authority advises, in such form and manner as the
4 commissioner shall prescribe, that notices of violation have been
5 responded to and any unpaid tolls, fees or other charges associated with
6 the vehicle and the vehicle identification number have been paid to the
7 tolling authority.
8 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 402 of the vehicle and traffic law, as
9 amended by chapter 451 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as
10 follows:
11 8. A violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not
12 less than twenty-five nor more than two hundred dollars, except that a
13 violation of subparagraph (ii) or subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (b) of
14 subdivision one of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not
15 less than fifty nor more than three hundred dollars. A police officer
16 as defined in section one hundred thirty-two of this chapter acting
17 pursuant to this section shall seize and confiscate any covering affixed
18 over the number plates which obscures the ability to easily read such
19 number plates and is made of glass or any plastic material, except that
20 a violation of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this section shall be
21 punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars and the
22 owner of the vehicle who such number plates were issued shall have one
23 week from the date such violation is issued to remove any artificial or
24 synthetic material or substance that conceals or obscures such number
25 plates or to purchase new number plates.
26 § 3. Section 510 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a
27 new subdivision 4-h to read as follows:
28 4-h. Suspension of registration for failure to comply with removing
29 any artificial or synthetic material or substance that conceals or
30 obscures number plates or the purchase of new number plates. Upon the
31 receipt of a notification from a court or an administrative tribunal
32 that an owner of a motor vehicle failed to comply with subdivision eight
33 of section four hundred two of this chapter, the commissioner or his or
34 her agent shall suspend the registration of the vehicle involved in the
35 violation and such suspension shall remain in effect until such time as
36 the commissioner is advised that the owner of such vehicle has satisfied
37 the requirements of such subdivision.
38 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
39 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately,
40 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
41 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
42 authorized to be made on or before such date.
