What's happening
This bill requires identity verification before suspending or revoking a driver's license due to mistaken identity.
Why it matters
Stronger Safeguards Against Mistaken Identity. By requiring a “three-point identity match” (name plus at least two independent identifiers), the law significantly reduces the risk that innocent people will lose their driving privileges due to clerical errors or confusion with someone of a similar name.
Shifts the Burden to the State. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) must now prove—using specific data—that a record justifying suspension or revocation actually pertains to the person in question, rather than presuming a match based on name similarity alone. This protects individuals from wrongful penalties.
Immediate Protection for the Accused. If someone claims mistaken identity, the DMV must temporarily halt (or undo) the suspension or revocation while the dispute is investigated, restoring driving privileges unless there’s another independent reason for them to be restricted.
Transparency and Due Process. The DMV would be required to provide affected individuals with both notice and access to the underlying evidence used for the identity match, and a fair opportunity to contest the action, increasing accountability and allowing people to defend themselves more effectively.
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Who cares
Individuals with Driver's Licenses or Vehicle Registrations
People who hold or apply for driver's licenses, learner's permits, or vehicle registrations, especially those who have experienced or fear mistaken identity issues leading to wrongful suspensions, revocations, or penalties.
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Administrative Staff
DMV staff responsible for processing adverse administrative actions, who will need to implement new identity verification procedures and manage additional documentation and appeals.
Legal and Civil Rights Advocates
Attorneys and advocacy groups focused on due process, civil rights, and preventing wrongful administrative penalties, who have an interest in ensuring fair identity verification standards.
Law Enforcement and Traffic Court Officials
Police, administrative law judges, and others involved in enforcing or adjudicating traffic violations and penalties, as their processes for confirming identity and administering sanctions will be directly affected.
Headline styles
Prevent License Penalties for Mistaken ID
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to rules
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
10729
IN SENATE
October 28, 2026
Introduced by Sen. LIU -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to allowing drivers to contest license revocations, suspensions, and other penalties based on cases of mistaken identity and require identity verification prior to adverse administrative action
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known as the "Mistaken Identity Prevention Act."
§ 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 229 to read as follows:
§ 229. Identity verification. 1. As used in this section:
(a) "Covered record" means any conviction, judgment, order, violation, or other record relied upon by the department in taking or proposing an adverse administrative action against an individual.
(b) "Adverse administrative action" means any suspension, revocation, cancellation, denial, or other restriction of a driver's license, learner's permit, registration, or privilege to operate a motor vehicle, or the imposition or enforcement of a civil penalty.
(c) "Three-point identity match" means verification of an individual's identity through the individual's full legal name and at least two additional independent identifiers, including but not limited to date of birth, social security number, driver's license or identification number, subject to documented and verified variations attributable to a lawful name change, clerical error, or other objectively established circumstance.
2. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department shall not rely upon a covered record to impose or maintain an adverse administrative action against an individual unless the department establishes a three-point identity match between such individual and the person identified in such record. In establishing a three-point identity match, the department shall:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16416-02-6
(i) verify the individual's full legal name, including any documented former or alternate legal name, and at least two additional independent identifying data points against the underlying source record or other reliable, independently verifiable records;
(ii) ensure that each identifying data point relied upon is attributable to the individual and to the person identified in the covered record;
(iii) document the identifying data points relied upon and the records used to verify each such data point; and
(iv) not treat the absence of an identifying data point in an incomplete, illegible or unavailable source record as evidence that the individual is the person identified in such record.
(b) A match based solely upon a person's name, or upon a name and one additional identifying data point, shall not satisfy the requirements of this subdivision. Where the department is unable to establish a threepoint identity match, it shall not impose or maintain an adverse administrative action against the individual based upon such covered record.
3. In any proceeding where an adverse administrative action is based upon a covered record, the department shall bear the burden of establishing that the record pertains to the individual against whom the action is proposed or being considered. No presumption that the covered record pertains to the individual shall be based solely from the covered record bearing the same or a substantially similar name as that individual. The department's burden under this section shall include establishing a three-point identity match in accordance with subdivision two of this section. The individual shall not be required to establish that the covered record pertains to another person in order to contest the identity match.
4. Before taking an adverse administrative action based upon a covered record, the department shall provide written notice to the affected individual, identifying the record, the nature of the proposed adverse administrative action, and the procedure for contesting the identity match. Upon request, the department shall provide the individual with access to the nonconfidential identifying information and supporting documentation relied upon to establish the three-point identity match, subject to applicable privacy and confidentiality laws. The affected individual shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to contest the identity match and submit information demonstrating that the covered record does not pertain to such individual. The department shall consider any such information before making a final determination to impose or maintain the adverse administrative action.
5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, upon receipt by the commissioner of a sworn affidavit from an individual asserting that a covered record relied upon by the department pertains to another person, the commissioner shall immediately stay any suspension, revocation, cancellation, or other adverse administrative action based upon such record, pending resolution of the identity dispute pursuant to this subdivision.
(b) The affidavit shall identify, to the extent reasonably known to the affiant, the disputed record and the basis for the claim of mistaken identity. The commissioner may prescribe a form for such affidavit, provided that the form shall not require the affiant to produce documentation that is not reasonably available to the affiant as a condition of obtaining the stay.
(c) Where the adverse administrative action has not yet taken effect, the action shall not take effect while the stay is in force. Where the action has already taken effect, the commissioner shall promptly restore the affected license, registration, or privilege to the status existing immediately before such action, to the extent the action is based upon the disputed covered record.
(d) Within thirty days after receipt of the affidavit, the commissioner shall review the claim and determine whether the department can establish the identity match required by this section. The commissioner may extend such period once, for not more than thirty additional days, upon written notice to the affiant stating the specific reasons additional time is necessary.
(e) The stay shall remain in effect until the commissioner issues a written determination resolving the identity dispute. If the commissioner fails to issue a determination within the period prescribed by paragraph (d) of this subdivision, the stay shall continue until a determination is issued.
(f) The commissioner shall provide the affiant with written notice of the determination, including the reasons therefor and notice of any available administrative appeal. Any determination adverse to the affiant shall identify the evidence establishing the identity match and shall be subject to review pursuant to applicable law.
(g) A stay under this subdivision shall not prevent the commissioner from taking action based upon an independent and legally sufficient ground unrelated to the disputed covered record.
(h) No individual shall be subject to a civil or criminal penalty solely for operating a motor vehicle during a period in which the individual's license or privilege has been restored pursuant to this subdivision, provided that such individual is otherwise duly licensed and no other lawful suspension or revocation is in effect.
6. The commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement this section, including procedures for the submission and review of affidavits and the correction of erroneous records.
§ 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2028.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
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