New York Senate Bill S04277 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4277 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 7, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- 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, in relation to the defi- nitions of the terms "impaired" and "intoxication" for the purposes of such law The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 119-b of the vehicle and traffic law is renumbered 2 section 119-c and a new section 119-b is added to read as follows: 3 § 119-b. Impaired. Impairment is reached when a driver has voluntarily 4 consumed or ingested a substance or combination of substances to the 5 extent that the driver has impaired, to any extent, the physical and 6 mental abilities which a driver is expected to possess in order to oper- 7 ate a vehicle as a reasonable and prudent driver. 8 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 9 120-a to read as follows: 10 § 120-a. Intoxication. Intoxication is a greater degree of impairment 11 which is reached when a driver has voluntarily consumed or ingested a 12 substance or combination of substances to the extent that the driver is 13 incapable of employing the physical and mental abilities which a driver 14 is expected to possess in order to operate a vehicle as a reasonable and 15 prudent driver. 16 § 3. 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 any subdivi- 19 sion of this section that the operator suffered an allergic reaction or 20 medical emergency rather than being impaired by the substance or combi- 21 nation of substances. Provided, however, that no defense shall be 22 available if any such consumed or ingested substance is contained in 23 section thirty-three hundred six of the public health law. 24 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed- 25 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08642-01-3