NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1166
SPONSOR: Ramos (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
the court to provide a range of dates for a person pleading not guilty
to a traffic infraction to appear
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To make it more feasible for those who have been charged with a traffic
infraCtion, and who have plead not guilty, to appear in court, the
courts shall now offer the defendants at least three possible dates and
times (instead of one) during which they will be able to make their
case.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends section 1806 of the vehicle and traffic
law, making it so that "the court shall provide the violator with a
range of dates to appear which shall include at least three different
dates and times at which the violator may appear. Section 2 establishes
the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to data extracted from records of tickets on file with NYS
DMV, from 2014 to 2018 there were 14.4 million traffic tickets adminis-
tered in the state. In addition, the average total cost of a traffic
ticket in the U.S. is $150, while traffic tickets in New York can be as
high as $600. With 40% of Americans in 2017 not having enough savings to
cover an unexpected $400 expense, the hardships that come with not
having flexibility in the scheduling of a court hearing can be dire.
Failure to pay/respond to the traffic ticket and to appear in court, if
a decision was made to plead not guilty, result in a default conviction
and potentially having one's license suspended. Furthermore, driving
with a suspended license is a crime, and a felony conviction may result
in fines of up to $5,000, jail, probation, or confiscation of one's
vehicle.
Many people in New York State cannot afford to pay their traffic tickets
and fines or may be given a ticket unjustly. Because of this, when the
one date and time appointed to you by the court does not coincide with
one's schedule, some are forced to choose between taking off from work,
in turn risking losing their job or showing up to court. This decision
is made more difficult because the consequences of failing to show up to
the court hearing may be very damaging.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.4486 of 2023-24 referred to transportation
A.5052 of 2021-22 referred to transportation
A.7626 of 2019-20 referred to transportation
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1166
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS, COLTON, ROSENTHAL, KELLES, WALKER, LEVEN-
BERG, GIBBS, CUNNINGHAM, LUCAS -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COOK
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
the court to provide a range of dates for a person pleading not guilty
to a traffic infraction to appear
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1806 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by
2 section 1 of part C of chapter 55 of the laws of 2012, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 § 1806. Plea of not guilty by a defendant charged with a traffic
5 infraction. In addition to appearing personally to enter a plea of not
6 guilty to a violation of any provision of the tax law or the transporta-
7 tion law regulating traffic, or to a traffic infraction for the
8 violation of any of the provisions of the vehicle and traffic law or of
9 any local law, ordinance, order, rule or regulation relating to the
10 operation of motor vehicles or motorcycles, a defendant may enter a plea
11 of not guilty by mailing to the court of appropriate jurisdiction the
12 ticket making the charge and a signed statement indicating such plea.
13 Such plea must be sent: (a) by registered or certified mail, return
14 receipt requested or by first class mail; and (b) within forty-eight
15 hours after receiving such ticket. Upon receipt of such ticket and
16 statement, the court shall advise the violator, by first class mail, of
17 an appearance at which no testimony shall be taken. The court shall
18 provide the violator with a range of dates to appear which shall include
19 at least three different dates and times at which the violator may
20 appear. If the motorist requests a trial, the court shall set a trial
21 date on a date subsequent to the date of the initial appearance and
22 shall notify the defendant of the date by first class mail but no
23 warrant of arrest for failure to appear can be issued until the violator
24 is notified of a new court appearance date by registered or certified
25 mail, return receipt requested, and fails to appear.
26 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02389-01-5
