Bill Text: NY A00844 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or combined use of drugs and alcohol and defines the term "inhalant".

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to transportation [A00844 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A00844-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         844--A

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 11, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. SIMOTAS, McDONOUGH, DenDEKKER, D'URSO -- read
          once and referred to the  Committee  on  Transportation  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT  to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the public health law,
          in relation to driving a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or
          combined use of drugs and alcohol and defines the term inhalant

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The  vehicle  and  traffic law is amended by adding a new
     2  section 119-c to read as follows:
     3    § 119-c. Inhalant.   Any substance set forth  in  subdivision  one  of
     4  section  thirty-three  hundred  eighty of the public health law which is
     5  used by smelling or inhaling such substance or  the  prohibited  use  of
     6  nitrous  oxide  as  set  forth  in  subdivision  five  of  such section;
     7  provided, however, that inhalant shall not include  any  such  substance
     8  which is inhaled for lawful medical or dental purposes.
     9    § 2. Subdivisions 4 and 4-a of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic
    10  law, subdivision 4 as added by chapter 47 of the laws of 1988 and subdi-
    11  vision  4-a  as added by chapter 732 of the laws of 2006, are amended to
    12  read as follows:
    13    4. Driving while ability impaired by drugs. No person shall operate  a
    14  motor vehicle while the person's ability to operate such a motor vehicle
    15  is impaired by the use of a drug or inhalant as defined in this chapter,
    16  or impaired by the voluntary ingestion or inhalation of any other chemi-
    17  cal,  inhalant,  pharmaceutical or other impairing substance or combina-
    18  tion of substances to the extent the driver is  incapable  of  employing
    19  the physical and mental abilities which he or she is expected to possess
    20  in order to operate a vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner.
    21    4-a. Driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs
    22  or  of  alcohol  and  any drug or drugs. No person shall operate a motor

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01218-02-9
        A. 844--A                           2

     1  vehicle while the person's ability to  operate  such  motor  vehicle  is
     2  impaired by the combined influence of drugs and/or inhalants or of alco-
     3  hol  and any drug or drugs and/or inhalants or by the combined influence
     4  of  alcohol  or  any  drug  or drugs and/or inhalants with any chemical,
     5  pharmaceutical, inhalant or other impairing substance or combination  of
     6  substances  to the extent the driver is incapable of employing the phys-
     7  ical and mental abilities which he or she  is  expected  to  possess  in
     8  order to operate a vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner.
     9    §  3.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision 1 of section 3380 of the public
    10  health law, as amended by chapter 234 of the laws of 1985, is amended to
    11  read as follows:
    12    (b) As used in this section hazardous inhalants shall mean and include
    13  the hydrocarbon difluoroethane and any of the preparations of  compounds
    14  containing one or more of the chemical compounds[;]: amyl nitrite, isoa-
    15  myl  nitrite,  butyl  nitrite,  isobutyl  nitrite, pentyl nitrite or any
    16  other [akyl] alkyl nitrite compound that is either designed to be  used,
    17  or commonly used, as an inhalant.
    18    §  4. Section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding
    19  a new subdivision 13 to read as follows:
    20    13. It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge under  subdivisions
    21  four  and  four-a  of  this section that the operator suffered a medical
    22  emergency rather than being impaired by the substance or combination  of
    23  substances, provided, however, that no defense shall be available if any
    24  such ingested substance is contained in section thirty-three hundred six
    25  or section thirty-three hundred eighty of the public health law.
    26    § 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    27  it  shall  have become a law; provided, however, that this act shall not
    28  apply to any offense committed before such date.