What's happening
This bill requires police departments to electronically send stolen vehicle reports to parking violations bureaus within five days.
Why it matters
Reduces wrongful parking fines for theft victims. By requiring police to electronically send stolen vehicle reports to parking violations bureaus within five days, it helps ensure that people whose cars were stolen aren’t unfairly penalized for tickets issued after the theft.
Improves government efficiency and accountability. The mandated electronic transmission creates a clear, auditable process for sharing critical information between departments, potentially reducing errors, lost paperwork, and administrative delays.
Strengthens legal protections for vehicle owners. The new law clarifies that if the electronically transmitted report is on file—or even if a certified copy was mailed—this is a sufficient legal defense against parking violations incurred during the period the car was stolen.
Encourages modernization of record-keeping. The bill pushes police departments and violations bureaus to adopt or expand electronic systems, which could have broader effects on how quickly and accurately government agencies share information.
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Who cares
Police departments
They would have to electronically transmit each completed stolen vehicle report to the parking violations bureau within five days.
Parking violations bureaus
They would have to receive and keep electronic stolen vehicle reports on file for use in parking ticket defenses.
Owners of stolen vehicles
They could rely on an electronically transmitted police report on file with the bureau, rather than mailing a certified copy, to contest tickets issued after the vehicle was reported stolen and before it was recovered.
Headline styles
Share Stolen Vehicle Reports
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to transportation
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
10967
IN ASSEMBLY
September 9, 2020
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Eichenstein) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring police departments to electronically transmit to parking violations bureaus a copy of each report of stolen vehicle prepared
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 239 of the vehicle and traffic law, as added by chapter 180 of the laws of 1980, is amended to read as follows:
3. Stolen vehicles. If any owner of a motor vehicle receives a notice of violation for a period during which the illegally parked vehicle was reported to any police department as having been stolen, it shall be a valid defense to any charge of a parking violation that the motor vehicle had been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time the violation occurred and had not been recovered by such time. The police department shall electronically transmit to the parking violations bureau, who shall receive and keep on file, a copy of each report of stolen vehicle within five days of the report's completion. For the purposes of asserting the defense provided by this subdivision, it shall be a sufficient defense that [a]:
a. A copy of the electronically transmitted police report of the stolen vehicle is on file with the parking violations bureau, or
b. A certified copy of the police report of the stolen vehicle [be] has been mailed to the parking violations bureau.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10344-01-9
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.