NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2774
SPONSOR: Zebrowski TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the penal law, in
relation to increasing fines and penalties for passing a stopped school
bus
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Provides for increased monetary penalties for passing a school bus and
applies criminal penalties to those who injure or kill a person while
doing so.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends 1174 of the vehicle and traffic law, as
it relates to increasing fines and penalties for passing a stopped
school bus.
Section two of the bill amends section 120.04-a of the penal law as it
relates to including injuring a person while passing a stopped school
bus to the aggravated vehicular assault statute.
Section three of the bill amends section 125.10 of the penal law as it
relates to including causing the death of a person while passing a
stopped school bus to the criminal negligent homicide statute.
Section four of the bill relates to the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The National Highway Transportation Administration reports that each
year, an average of 11 passengers under the age of 19 die in school bus
accidents. Most of the most serious injuries and deaths occur when chil-
dren are hit by a school bus or by passing motorists while getting on or
off the bus.
More than 25 children each year die in pedestrian accidents involving
school buses. In fact, three times as many children are killed in school
bus accidents while getting on or off the bus than while riding it.
Pedestrians account for more than 40 percent of school bus-related
fatalities. Many of these injuries occur when children are boarding or
exiting the school bus, due to the driver's "blind spot," which extends
approximately 10 feet around the bus.
These statistics clearly demonstrate the importance of strengthening
penalties against those who illegally pass a school bus, and especially
for those that injure another person while doing so.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.1292 of 2021-22,
A.3933 of 2019-20,
A.1207 of 2017-18,
A.7130 of 2015-16,
A.8600 of 2013-14
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2774
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the penal law, in
relation to increasing fines and penalties for passing a stopped
school bus
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (c) of section 1174 of the vehicle and traffic
2 law, as amended by chapter 254 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 (c) Every person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) of this
5 section shall be subject to the following fines and penalties:
6 (i) for a first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less
7 than [two hundred fifty] four hundred dollars nor more than [four
8 hundred] seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more
9 than thirty days or by both such fine and imprisonment;
10 (ii) for a conviction of a second violation, both of which were
11 committed within a period of three years, such person shall be punished
12 by a fine of not less than [six hundred dollars] nine hundred fifty
13 dollars nor more than [seven hundred fifty] one thousand one hundred
14 fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty
15 days or by both such fine and imprisonment;
16 (iii) upon a conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of
17 which were committed within a period of three years, such person shall
18 be punished by a fine of not less than [seven hundred fifty] one thou-
19 sand one hundred fifty dollars nor more than [one thousand] one thousand
20 five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred
21 eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment.
22 § 2. Subdivision 6 of section 120.04-a of the penal law, as added by
23 chapter 496 of the laws of 2009, is amended and a new subdivision 7 is
24 added to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06359-01-3
A. 2774 2
1 (6) commits such crime while operating a motor vehicle while a child
2 who is fifteen years of age or less is a passenger in such motor vehicle
3 and causes serious physical injury to such child[.]; or
4 (7) violates any provision of subdivision (a) of section eleven
5 hundred seventy-four of the vehicle and traffic law and in the commis-
6 sion of such offense causes injury to a person.
7 § 3. Section 125.10 of the penal law is amended to read as follows:
8 § 125.10 Criminally negligent homicide.
9 A person is guilty of criminally negligent homicide when[, with]:
10 1. With criminal negligence, he or she causes the death of another
11 person[.]; or
12 2. He or she causes the death of another person or persons while oper-
13 ating a motor vehicle in violation of subdivision (a) of section eleven
14 hundred seventy-four of the vehicle and traffic law.
15 Criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony.
16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
