Bill Text: NY A05427 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the "Heather D. Heyer act" which increases penalties where a vehicle is used as a weapon in a hate crime and makes it illegal to travel upon a roadway in a vehicle within 1000 feet of a protest.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to transportation [A05427 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A05427-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5427

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 16, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. FRONTUS -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Transportation

        AN ACT to amend the vehicle and  traffic  law  and  the  penal  law,  in
          relation to the use of a vehicle as a weapon

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

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Heather D.
     2  Heyer act."
     3    § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding  a  new  section
     4  1229-e to read as follows:
     5    §  1229-e.  Driving near protests. 1. When a protest with over fifteen
     6  people in attendance is occurring on a roadway, with  the  exception  of
     7  police  vehicles, emergency vehicles, and the vehicles of people partic-
     8  ipating in the protest, no driver of a vehicle  shall  drive  upon  such
     9  roadway within one thousand feet of the protest.
    10    2.  Whenever any vehicle, with the exception of police vehicles, emer-
    11  gency vehicles, and the vehicles of people participating in the protest,
    12  is stopped at a protest, the driver of  any  other  vehicle  approaching
    13  from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle.
    14    3.  A  violation  of subdivision one or two of this section shall be a
    15  traffic infraction and shall be punishable by a fine of  not  less  than
    16  three  hundred  dollars nor more than five hundred dollars. A person who
    17  operates a vehicle in violation of such subdivisions after  having  been
    18  convicted  of a violation of such subdivisions within the preceding five
    19  years shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred  dollars
    20  nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars. A person who operates a vehi-
    21  cle in violation of such subdivisions after having been convicted two or
    22  more  times of a violation of such subdivisions within the preceding ten
    23  years shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a  fine
    24  of  not  less  than  seven  hundred  fifty dollars nor more than fifteen
    25  hundred dollars.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06085-01-1
        A. 5427                             2

     1    § 3. Section 485.10 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
     2  vision 3-a to read as follows:
     3    3-a.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of law, when a person is
     4  convicted of a hate crime pursuant to this article where the  underlying
     5  offense is vehicular manslaughter or a dangerous instrument is used as a
     6  weapon  against  a  person during the commission of such hate crime, the
     7  specified offense is a class A-1 felony with which the minimum period of
     8  the indeterminate sentence shall not be less than twenty-five years.
     9    § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    10  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.