Bill Text: NY A08933 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Limits the liability of operators and owners of first-response emergency vehicles for monetary penalties for certain traffic violations committed while responding to a medical emergency in a city with a population of one million or more persons.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-07-21 - signed chap.407 [A08933 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A08933-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8933--A

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 19, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  EICHENSTEIN -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Transportation --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to limiting the
          liability of operators and owners of first-response emergency vehicles
          for  monetary penalties for certain traffic violations committed while
          responding to a medical emergency in a city with a population  of  one
          million or more persons

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 240 of the vehicle and traffic law  is  amended  by
     2  adding a new subdivision 1-b to read as follows:
     3    1-b.  (a)  In  a  city  having a population of one million or more, at
     4  every hearing for the adjudication of a notice of liability, as provided
     5  by this article, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the  owner
     6  of a first-response emergency vehicle alleged to be liable in accordance
     7  with  any  provisions  of law specifically authorizing the imposition of
     8  monetary liability on the owner of a vehicle for failure of an  operator
     9  thereof:  to  comply  with  traffic-control  indications in violation of
    10  subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this chapter through
    11  the installation and operation of traffic-control  signal  photo  viola-
    12  tion-monitoring  systems, in accordance with article twenty-four of this
    13  chapter; or to comply  with  certain  posted  maximum  speed  limits  in
    14  violation  of  subdivision  (b),  (c), (d), (f) or (g) of section eleven
    15  hundred eighty of this chapter through the installation and operation of
    16  photo speed violation monitoring systems,  in  accordance  with  article
    17  thirty  of  this  chapter;  or  to  comply with bus lane restrictions as
    18  defined by article twenty-four of this chapter through the  installation
    19  and  operation  of  bus  lane  photo devices, in accordance with article
    20  twenty-four of this chapter is not liable for such alleged violation  if
    21  such  owner of the first-response emergency vehicle provides the hearing
    22  officer with:
    23    (i) a signed and affirmed affidavit attesting that the operator of the
    24  first-response emergency vehicle at the time of the alleged violation is

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13830-12-2
        A. 8933--A                          2

     1  a medically-trained first  responder  and  that  the  alleged  violation
     2  occurred  while the operator of the first-response emergency vehicle was
     3  involved in an emergency operation in such  vehicle  in  response  to  a
     4  medical emergency call; and
     5    (ii)  documentation  supporting  the dispatch of the medical emergency
     6  call and the dispatch of the operator and the  first-response  emergency
     7  vehicle to the scene of the medical emergency.
     8    (b)  As  used  in this subdivision, "first-response emergency vehicle"
     9  shall mean ambulances as defined in section one hundred-b of this  chap-
    10  ter  and  emergency ambulance service vehicles as defined in section one
    11  hundred fifteen-c of this chapter.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    13  it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    14  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    15  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    16  completed on or before such effective date.