What's happening
This bill requires all new and used motor vehicles in New York to be equipped with ignition interlock devices to prevent drunk driving.
Why it matters
Mandates ignition interlocks on all vehicles, not just for high-risk or previously convicted drivers. , meaning every driver in New York would be required to blow into a breathalyzer before starting their car, fundamentally changing routine vehicle use.
Applies to both new and used vehicles—including those already on the road—by set deadlines (2020 for new, 2021 for used/existing),. which would require retrofitting millions of existing vehicles, potentially creating significant costs and logistical hurdles for car owners and dealers.
Standardizes the technology and certification of devices statewide under the health commissioner,. aiming to ensure reliability and uniformity, but also centralizing regulatory oversight and possibly impacting how new tech is adopted or approved.
Represents a sweeping preventative approach to drunk driving, shifting from punitive to universal measures,. which could spark debates about privacy, personal inconvenience, and the balance between public safety and individual freedoms.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Car Breathalyzers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Multi-sponsors
History
- Referred to transportation
- Referred to transportation
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3390
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ, HOOPER, DenDEKKER, WEPRIN, THIELE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CRESPO, HIKIND -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to mandating ignition interlock devices
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 1198-b to read as follows:
§ 1198-b. Installation of ignition interlock devices. 1. Every motor vehicle, as defined in section one hundred twenty-five of this chapter, manufactured for use in this state on and after December thirty-first, two thousand twenty, and every second hand motor vehicle sold in this state on and after December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-one which is capable of having an ignition interlock device installed, shall be equipped with a functional ignition interlock device of a type and specification as certified by the commissioner of health pursuant to subdivision six of section eleven hundred ninety-eight of this article.
2. Ignition interlocking devices for existing motor vehicles registered in the state. Any motor vehicle as defined in section one hundred twenty-five of this chapter, shall by December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-one be retrofitted so that all such vehicles are equipped with an ignition interlocking device in accordance with the provisions of this section.
3. For the purposes of this section, the term "ignition interlocking device" shall mean any blood alcohol concentration equivalence measuring device which connects to a motor vehicle ignition system and prevents a motor vehicle from being started without first determining through an essential deep lung breath sample that the operator's equivalent breath alcohol level does not exceed the calibrated setting on such device.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08206-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.