Bill Text: NY S01094 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or combined use of drugs and alcohol.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION [S01094 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S01094-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1094 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 10, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. AMEDORE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation 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 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. The term "inhalant" when used in this chapter shall 4 refer to the smelling or inhaling of any substance set forth in subdivi- 5 sion one of section thirty-three hundred eighty of the public health law 6 or the prohibited use of nitrous oxide as set forth in subdivision five 7 of such section, except for the inhalation of any such substance for 8 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 of any other chemical, inhalant, 17 pharmaceutical or other impairing substance or combination of substances 18 to the extent the driver is incapable of employing the physical and 19 mental abilities which he or she is expected to possess in order to 20 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 23 vehicle while the person's ability to operate such motor vehicle is 24 impaired by the combined influence of drugs and/or inhalants or of alco- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01218-01-9S. 1094 2 1 hol and any drug or drugs and/or inhalants or by the combined influence 2 of alcohol or any drug or drugs and/or inhalants with any chemical, 3 pharmaceutical, inhalant or other impairing substance or combination of 4 substances to the extent the driver is incapable of employing the phys- 5 ical and mental abilities which he or she is expected to possess in 6 order to operate a vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner. 7 § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 3380 of the public 8 health law, as amended by chapter 234 of the laws of 1985, is amended to 9 read as follows: 10 (b) As used in this section hazardous inhalants shall mean and include 11 the hydrocarbon difluoroethane and any of the preparations of compounds 12 containing one or more of the chemical compounds[;]: amyl nitrite, isoa- 13 myl nitrite, butyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite, pentyl nitrite or any 14 other [akyl] alkyl nitrite compound that is either designed to be used, 15 or commonly used, as an inhalant. 16 § 4. Section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding 17 a new subdivision 13 to read as follows: 18 13. It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge under subdivisions 19 four and four-a of this section that the operator suffered an allergic 20 reaction or medical emergency rather than being impaired by the 21 substance or combination of substances, provided, however, that no 22 defense shall be available if any such ingested substance is contained 23 in section three thousand three hundred six or section three thousand 24 three hundred eighty of the public health law. 25 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed- 26 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
