STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6529
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to increasing
penalties for defaced or obstructed license plates
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 402 of the vehi-
2 cle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 451 of the laws of 2021, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (b) (i) Number plates shall be kept clean and in a condition so as to
5 be easily readable and shall not be covered by glass or any plastic
6 material.
7 (ii) Number plates shall not be knowingly defaced or covered or coated
8 with any artificial or synthetic material or substance that conceals or
9 obscures such number plates or that distorts a recorded or photographic
10 image of such number plates.
11 (iii) The view of such number plates shall not be obstructed by any
12 part of the vehicle or by anything carried thereon, except for a receiv-
13 er-transmitter issued by a publicly owned tolling facility in connection
14 with electronic toll collection when such receiver-transmitter is
15 affixed to the exterior of a vehicle in accordance with mounting
16 instructions provided by the tolling facility.
17 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 402 of the vehicle and traffic law, as
18 amended by chapter 451 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 8. A violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not
21 less than twenty-five nor more than two hundred dollars, except that a
22 violation of subparagraph (ii) or subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (b) of
23 subdivision one of this section shall [be punishable by a fine of not
24 less than fifty nor more than three hundred dollars] result in a suspen-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09834-03-3
S. 6529 2
1 sion of the registration of such vehicle for one year pursuant to subdi-
2 vision four-h of section five hundred ten of this chapter.
3 § 3. Section 510 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a
4 new subdivision 4-h to read as follows:
5 4-h. Suspension of registration for defaced or obscured number plates.
6 Upon the receipt of a notification from a court or an administrative
7 tribunal that an owner of a motor vehicle has violated subparagraph (ii)
8 or (iii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section four hundred two
9 of this chapter, the commissioner or his or her agent shall suspend the
10 registration of the vehicle involved in the violation for a period of
11 one year. Each subsequent violation shall result in an additional one
12 year suspension. During any period of suspension under this subdivision
13 the registered owner of the vehicle shall be prohibited from trans-
14 ferring ownership of such vehicle to any other person and shall also be
15 prohibited from registering any other vehicle.
16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
