NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9738
SPONSOR: Steck TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to permitting
only one traffic infraction per traffic stop for having tinted windows
on a motor vehicle
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To protect motorists from the capricious, punitive and harassing prac-
tice of issuing multiple tickets for a single traffic stop concerning
tinted windows
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Subdivision 12-a of Section 375 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law is
amended to permit the issuance of one traffic infraction per stop for
tinted windows.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, an individual pulled over by law enforcement under suspicion
of having tinted windows that allow for less than 70% light transmit-
tance can be issued as many tickets as the car has windows. That means
one stop alone could yield several tickets and hundreds or thousands of
dollars in fines. In addition, the latitude afforded to law enforcement
in terms of stops for tinted windows is overbroad and can potentially be
abused and misused, including for the purposes of racial profiling and a
new form of stop, question & frisk. The legislation preserves the.right
of law enforcement to enforce the tinted windows law, but requires a
more just outcome.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S5833 2022
S 7958 COMRIE Same as A 10127 Blake
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9738
IN ASSEMBLY
April 3, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to permitting
only one traffic infraction per traffic stop for having tinted windows
on a motor vehicle
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 12-a of section 375 of the vehicle and traffic
2 law is amended by adding a new paragraph (h) to read as follows:
3 (h) Notwithstanding any other law, only one traffic infraction may be
4 incurred as a result of a single traffic stop by an owner of a motor
5 vehicle for a violation of subparagraph one, two, three, or four of
6 paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04646-01-3
