STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1623
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 10, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. SAMPSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to accessibility
by blind and visually impaired persons to automated teller machines
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 399-j to read as follows:
3 § 399-j. Automated teller machines; accessibility by blind and visual-
4 ly impaired persons. 1. As used in this section, the term "automated
5 teller machine provider" means the person or entity responsible for
6 providing an automated teller machine for use at any location, and the
7 term "automated teller machine manufacturer" shall mean the person or
8 entity who or which manufactures the automated teller machine provided
9 at such location.
10 2. No automated teller machine may be sold in this state unless the
11 numbered buttons or spaces adjacent to the numbered buttons on the
12 machine are equipped by the automated teller machine manufacturer with
13 raised lettering, raised numbers, and/or Braille and unless the font
14 size used for letters and numbers on the visual screen of the machine
15 can be enlarged by the push of a button in either case so as to render
16 fully accessible and usable such machine by blind and visually impaired
17 persons.
18 3. Every automated teller machine provider shall provide verbal
19 assistance or instructions in Braille in the operation and use of each
20 automated teller machine provided by such provider.
21 4. In the event an automated teller machine in use is not equipped as
22 described in subdivision two of this section, the automated teller
23 machine provider who or which has provided such machine for use at the
24 location shall make such modifications or adaptations to the machine as
25 are necessary to render it fully accessible and usable by blind and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05899-01-1
S. 1623 2
1 visually impaired persons on or before the effective date of this
2 section.
3 5. A violation of subdivision two of this section shall be subject to
4 a civil penalty of two thousand five hundred dollars for each machine
5 sold in violation of the requirements of such subdivision. A violation
6 of subdivision three or four of this section shall be subject to a civil
7 penalty of one thousand dollars per machine for each day or part thereof
8 in which such provider or such automated teller machine or both, as the
9 case may be, remains in non-compliance with the provisions of such
10 subdivision.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
12 ing the date on which it shall have become a law, provided, however,
13 that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
14 rules or regulations necessary for the implementation of the foregoing
15 section of this act on its effective date is authorized and directed to
16 be made and completed on or before such effective date.
