NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5780
SPONSOR: Magnarelli TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
police reports of traffic accidents to include insurance information for
the parties to the accident
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To amend the current vehicle and traffic law to allow police officers at
the scene of an accident to distinctly indicate and include information
concerning the applicable insurance policies of each party to the acci-
dent.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 1 of section 603 of the vehicle and traffic
law, as amended by chapter 432 of the laws of 1997, to allow police
officers to capture insurance information on form MV-104a.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Form MV-104 is an accident report used by civilians to capture the
details of an accident, including their insurance policy provider and
insurance number. This bill will add an additional line to form MV-104A,
so that police officers can record not only the vehicles insurance
number, but the company through which the vehicles are insured. This
will make it much easier for both the parties to the accident, and/or
their attorneys, to retrieve this important information directly from
the police report, thereby expediting the insurance recovery process.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A.9809
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that if chap-
ter 196 of the laws of 2024 shall not have taken effect• on or before
such date then section one of this act shall take effect on the same
date and in the same manner as such chapter of the laws of 2024 takes
effect. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of
any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on
its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before
such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5780
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 20, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
police reports of traffic accidents to include insurance information
for the parties to the accident
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 603 of the vehicle and traffic
2 law, as amended by chapter 196 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 1. Every police or judicial officer to whom an accident resulting in
5 injury to a person shall have been reported, pursuant to the foregoing
6 provisions of this chapter or pursuant to the provisions of sections
7 twelve hundred forty or twelve hundred forty-one of this chapter involv-
8 ing a bicycle with electric assist or pursuant to the provisions of
9 sections twelve hundred eighty-seven or twelve hundred eighty-eight of
10 this chapter, shall immediately investigate the facts, or cause the same
11 to be investigated, and report the matter to the commissioner forthwith;
12 provided, however, that the report of the accident is made to the police
13 officer or judicial officer within five days after such accident. Every
14 coroner, or other official performing like functions, shall likewise
15 make a report to the commissioner with respect to all deaths found to
16 have been the result of motor vehicle, motorcycle, electric scooter, or
17 bicycle with electric assist accidents. Such report shall include infor-
18 mation regarding the type or types of vehicles involved, including
19 passenger motor vehicles, commercial motor vehicles, motorcycles, limit-
20 ed use motorcycles, off-highway motorcycles, electric scooters, bicycles
21 with electric assist and/or bicycles. Such report shall include informa-
22 tion on the width and length of trucks, tractors, trailers and semi-
23 trailers, which are in excess of ninety-five inches in width or thirty-
24 four feet in length and which are involved in such accidents, whether
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09150-01-5
A. 5780 2
1 such accident took place in a work area and whether it was being oper-
2 ated with an overweight or overdimension permit. Such report shall
3 distinctly indicate and include information as to whether the inflatable
4 restraint system inflated and deployed. Such report shall distinctly
5 indicate and include information concerning the applicable insurance
6 policies of each party to the accident. Nothing contained in this subdi-
7 vision shall be deemed to preclude a police officer from reporting any
8 other accident which, in the judgment of such police officer, would be
9 required to be reported to the commissioner by the operator of a vehicle
10 pursuant to section six hundred five of this article.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
12 if chapter 196 of the laws of 2024 shall not have taken effect on or
13 before such date then section one of this act shall take effect on the
14 same date and in the same manner as such chapter of the laws of 2024
15 takes effect. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
16 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
17 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
18 on or before such effective date.
