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S3176Senate2015-2016 Session

Authorizes the dissemination of driver license photos to police agencies

Sponsor Jack M. MartinsSD-7Affects Transportation
Status
In Senate Committee
Transportation
Impact
Pending
Passage
Pending

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Transportation

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Who cares

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Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Jack M. Martins

Senator · Senate District 7

Chair, Labor

No co-sponsors yet.

History

  1. Referred to transportation
  2. Referred to transportation

Full text

The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.

Sponsor's memo

BILL NUMBER:S3176

Title of bill

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to allowing photo images on driver's licenses to be available to police agencies

Purpose

To allow police officers and investigators to utilize photo images on a driver's license or driver's permit to compare it to the picture on record of the operator of a vehicle or while investigating individuals.

Summary of provisions

This bill would amend section 504(3) of the Vehicle and Traffic Law to permit police departments to have available the photo image of an individual licensed to drive a vehicle in the State of New York. The image could then be transmitted to computers operated by officers and investigators in the field to provide them a useful investigative tool in conducting law enforcement duties and investigations.

Existing law

VTL section 504 does not require such photos be provided to law enforcement.

Justification

With improving technology and better access to the records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, a licensee's photo is readily available. Police officers and investigators can easily access this photo image during the performance of their duties which can be a useful investigative device for multiple purposes.

Last Year, Governor Cuomo recognized the importance of this matter and announced a new data sharing initiative that gave law enforcement agencies greater and instantaneous access to information housed by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) through a secure internet portal. This information included photos of all New York State drivers and nondrivers, vehicle registrations, drivers' lifetime driving histories, as well as real-time notifications of traffic violations and other changes to a driver's record.

This legislation would statutorily give police officers access to photo Images.

Legislative history

2014:(S.6262/A.2722) 2012 (S.4070/A.5662) 2007:(S.3573)

Fiscal implications

None.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediately.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.