STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5520 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 19, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PICHARDO, SAYEGH, REYES -- 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 the use of a vehicle as a weapon The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Heather D. 2 Heyer act." 3 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 4 1229-e to read as follows: 5 § 1229-e. Driving near protests. 1. When a protest with over one 6 hundred people in attendance is occurring on a roadway, with the excep- 7 tion of police vehicles, emergency vehicles, and the vehicles of people 8 participating in the protest, no driver of a vehicle shall drive upon 9 such roadway within one thousand feet of the protest. 10 2. Whenever any vehicle, with the exception of police vehicles, emer- 11 gency vehicles, and the vehicles of people participating in the protest, 12 is stopped at a protest, the driver of any other vehicle approaching 13 from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle. 14 3. A violation of subdivision one or two of this section shall be a 15 traffic infraction and shall be punishable by a fine of not less than 16 three hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars. A person who 17 operates a vehicle in violation of such subdivisions after having been 18 convicted of a violation of such subdivisions within the preceding five 19 years shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars 20 nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars. A person who operates a vehi- 21 cle in violation of such subdivisions after having been convicted two or 22 more times of a violation of such subdivisions within the preceding ten 23 years shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine 24 of not less than seven hundred fifty dollars nor more than fifteen 25 hundred dollars. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06085-02-1

A. 5520 2 1 § 3. Section 485.10 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi- 2 vision 3-a to read as follows: 3 3-a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a person is 4 convicted of a hate crime pursuant to this article where the underlying 5 offense is vehicular manslaughter or a dangerous instrument is used as a 6 weapon against a person during the commission of such hate crime, the 7 specified offense is a class A-1 felony with which the minimum period of 8 the indeterminate sentence shall not be less than twenty-five years. 9 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed- 10 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

Relates to the use of a vehicle as a weapon

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