Bill Text: NY A07387 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes a deaf and hard of hearing outreach program to facilitate communication between hearing-impaired persons and law enforcement personnel.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-06 - referred to codes [A07387 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-A07387-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 7387 2015-2016 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y May 7, 2015 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing a deaf and hard of hearing outreach program to facilitate communication between hearing-impaired persons and law enforcement personnel THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-s 2 to read as follows: 3 S 837-S. DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING OUTREACH PROGRAM. 1. AS USED IN THIS 4 SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS: 5 (A) "DEAF PERSON" SHALL MEAN ANY PERSON WHO, BECAUSE OF HEARING LOSS, 6 IS NOT ABLE TO DISCRIMINATE SPEECH WHEN SPOKEN IN A NORMAL CONVERSA- 7 TIONAL TONE REGARDLESS OF THE USE OF AMPLIFICATION DEVICES; AND 8 (B) "HARD OF HEARING PERSON" SHALL MEAN ANY PERSON WHO, BECAUSE OF 9 HEARING LOSS, HAS A DIMINISHED CAPACITY TO DISCRIMINATE SPEECH WHEN 10 SPOKEN IN A NORMAL CONVERSATIONAL TONE. 11 (C) "VISOR COMMUNICATION CARD" SHALL MEAN SUCH IDENTIFICATION AS 12 ISSUED BY THE DIVISION WHICH IDENTIFIES THE DRIVER AS DEAF OR HARD OF 13 HEARING, AS DEFINED IN THIS SECTION, AND WHICH DETAILS THE APPROPRIATE 14 PROCEDURES FOR ASSISTING A DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING DRIVER DURING A TRAF- 15 FIC STOP AS PROMULGATED BY THE DIVISION PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION. 16 2. THE DIVISION SHALL DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN VISOR COMMUNICATION CARDS 17 FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND 18 DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING INDIVIDUALS. ANY PERSON RESIDING IN THIS STATE 19 SHALL, UPON REQUEST, BE ISSUED A VISOR COMMUNICATION OF A DESIGN 20 APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER. APPLICATION FOR SUCH VISOR COMMUNICATION 21 CARD SHALL BE FILED WITH THE DIVISION IN SUCH FORM AND DETAIL AS THE 22 COMMISSIONER SHALL PRESCRIBE. 23 3. THE DIVISION SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE AN ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE 24 VISOR COMMUNICATION CARD ON THEIR WEBSITE. THE DIVISION SHALL DISSEM- EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10327-01-5 A. 7387 2 1 INATE FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSTING SUCH ELECTRONIC VERSION TO LAW ENFORCE- 2 MENT AGENCIES AND OTHER STATE AGENCIES WHERE THE PUBLIC MAY OBTAIN 3 INFORMATION REGARDING MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND LICENSES. 4 S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.