What's happening
This bill increases fines and penalties for passing a stopped school bus and expands criminal liability for injuries or deaths resulting from such violations.
Why it matters
Significantly higher fines and potential jail time may deter more drivers from illegally passing stopped school buses. , which is a key safety issue for children getting on and off buses.
The bill introduces new criminal liability for drivers who injure or kill someone while illegally passing a stopped school bus,. making these actions explicitly chargeable as crimes (including criminally negligent homicide for fatalities), not just traffic violations.
These changes could lead to more aggressive prosecution and higher penalties for drivers involved in incidents around school buses,. potentially prompting greater public awareness and compliance with school bus safety laws.
By specifically referencing injuries and deaths caused during these violations, the bill addresses real-world tragedies and aims to close legal loopholes,. ensuring that serious consequences follow when children or others are harmed due to reckless driving around school buses.
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Who cares
Drivers
The bill would raise fines for passing a stopped school bus to $400–$750 for a first conviction, with higher fines for repeat violations within three years.
Schoolchildren and their families
The bill would add criminal penalties for stopped-school-bus violations that cause injury or death.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys
The bill would add an injury-causing stopped-school-bus violation to the aggravated vehicular assault statute and a death-causing violation to criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony.
Headline styles
Tougher Penalties for School Bus Violations
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to transportation
- Referred to transportation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3933
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI, M. G. MILLER, D'URSO, CROUCH, RAIA -read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the penal law, in relation to increasing fines and penalties for passing a stopped school bus
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision (c) of section 1174 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 254 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
(c) Every person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) of this section shall be subject to the following fines and penalties:
(i) for a first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than [two hundred fifty] four hundred dollars nor more than [four hundred] seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or by both such fine and imprisonment;
(ii) for a conviction of a second violation, both of which were committed within a period of three years, such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than [six hundred dollars] nine hundred fifty dollars nor more than [seven hundred fifty] one thousand one hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment;
(iii) upon a conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were committed within a period of three years, such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than [seven hundred fifty] one thousand one hundred fifty dollars nor more than [one thousand] one thousand five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment.
§ 2. Subdivision 6 of section 120.04-a of the penal law, as added by chapter 496 of the laws of 2009, is amended and a new subdivision 7 is added to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06521-01-9
A. 3933 2
(6) commits such crime while operating a motor vehicle while a child who is fifteen years of age or less is a passenger in such motor vehicle and causes serious physical injury to such child[.]; or
(7) violates any provision of subdivision (a) of section eleven hundred seventy-four of the vehicle and traffic law and in the commission of such offense causes injury to a person.
§ 3. Section 125.10 of the penal law is amended to read as follows: § 125.10 Criminally negligent homicide.
A person is guilty of criminally negligent homicide when[, with]:
1. With criminal negligence, he or she causes the death of another person[.]; or
2. He or she causes the death of another person or persons while operating a motor vehicle in violation of subdivision (a) of section eleven hundred seventy-four of the vehicle and traffic law.
Criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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.