Bill Text: NY S04769 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or combined use of drugs and alcohol.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-06-15 - referred to transportation [S04769 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S04769-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         4769--A
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     April 15, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen. AMEDORE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation  --  recom-
          mitted  to  the  Committee on Transportation in accordance with Senate
          Rule  6,  sec.  8  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT  to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the public health law,
          in relation to driving a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or
          combined use of drugs and alcohol
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  The  vehicle  and  traffic law is amended by adding a new
     2  section 119-c to read as follows:
     3    § 119-c. Inhalant. The term "inhalant" when used in this chapter shall
     4  refer to the smelling or inhaling of any substance set forth in subdivi-
     5  sion one of section thirty-three hundred eighty of the public health law
     6  or the prohibited use of nitrous oxide as set forth in subdivision  five
     7  of  such  section,  except  for the inhalation of any such substance for
     8  medical or dental purposes.
     9    § 2. Subdivisions 4 and 4-a of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic
    10  law, subdivision 4 as added by chapter 47 of the laws of 1988 and subdi-
    11  vision 4-a as added by chapter 732 of the laws of 2006, are  amended  to
    12  read as follows:
    13    4.  Driving while ability impaired by drugs. No person shall operate a
    14  motor vehicle while the person's ability to operate such a motor vehicle
    15  is impaired by the use of a drug or inhalant as defined in this chapter,
    16  or impaired by the voluntary ingestion of any other chemical,  inhalant,
    17  pharmaceutical or other impairing substance or combination of substances
    18  to  the  extent  the  driver  is incapable of employing the physical and
    19  mental abilities which he or she is expected  to  possess  in  order  to
    20  operate a vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07364-06-6
        S. 4769--A                          2
     1    4-a. Driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs
     2  or  of  alcohol  and  any drug or drugs. No person shall operate a motor
     3  vehicle while the person's ability to  operate  such  motor  vehicle  is
     4  impaired by the combined influence of drugs and/or inhalants or of alco-
     5  hol  and any drug or drugs and/or inhalants or by the combined influence
     6  of alcohol or any drug or drugs  and/or  inhalants  with  any  chemical,
     7  pharmaceutical,  inhalant or other impairing substance or combination of
     8  substances to the extent the driver is incapable of employing the  phys-
     9  ical  and  mental  abilities  which  he or she is expected to possess in
    10  order to operate a vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner.
    11    § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of  section  3380  of  the  public
    12  health law, as amended by chapter 234 of the laws of 1985, is amended to
    13  read as follows:
    14    (b) As used in this section hazardous inhalants shall mean and include
    15  the  hydrocarbon difluoroethane and any of the preparations of compounds
    16  containing one or more of the chemical compounds[;]: amyl nitrite, isoa-
    17  myl nitrite, butyl nitrite, isobutyl  nitrite,  pentyl  nitrite  or  any
    18  other  [akyl] alkyl nitrite compound that is either designed to be used,
    19  or commonly used, as an inhalant.
    20    § 4. Section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by  adding
    21  a new subdivision 13 to read as follows:
    22    13.  It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge under subdivisions
    23  four and four-a of this section that the operator suffered  an  allergic
    24  reaction  or  medical  emergency  rather  than  being  impaired  by  the
    25  substance or combination  of  substances,  provided,  however,  that  no
    26  defense  shall  be available if any such ingested substance is contained
    27  in section three thousand three hundred six or  section  three  thousand
    28  three hundred eighty of the public health law.
    29    § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    30  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.