STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 788 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BERGER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring that the distinctive license plate numbers issued to an owner of a registered motor vehicle be updated within seven days of such plate or plates being stolen The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 401 of the vehicle 2 and traffic law, as amended by section 1 of part H of chapter 59 of the 3 laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows: 4 a. (i) Upon filing of such application and the payment of the fee 5 hereinafter provided, the commissioner shall assign to such motor vehi- 6 cle a distinctive number and, without expense to the applicant, issue 7 and deliver in such manner as the commissioner may select to the owner a 8 certificate of registration, in such form as the commissioner shall 9 prescribe, and two number plates at a place within the state of New York 10 named by the applicant in [his or her] such applicant's application. A 11 number plate, within the meaning of this chapter, may, in the discretion 12 of the commissioner, be a plate of a permanent nature, treated with 13 reflectorized material according to specifications prescribed by the 14 commissioner, and with a date tag attached to such plate or to the vehi- 15 cle as prescribed by regulations of the commissioner indicating the 16 validity of the plate during a certain period and the issuance of such a 17 number plate with such date tag to a person possessing such a number 18 plate shall be deemed the issuance of a number plate. An additional fee, 19 not to exceed twenty-five dollars, shall be paid to the commissioner 20 whenever a set of reflectorized number plates is issued for any vehicle 21 for which a registration fee is normally charged except that, with 22 respect to any number plate which is specifically requested by the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00982-01-5
A. 788 2 1 applicant, such fee shall be paid to the commissioner upon approval of 2 such request. In the event of the loss, mutilation or destruction of any 3 certificate of registration, any number plate or set of number plates 4 whether with or without a date tag or tags, or any date tag or set of 5 date tags provided for in this article, the owner of a registered motor 6 vehicle may file such statement and proof of the facts as the commis- 7 sioner shall require, with a fee of three dollars, in the office of the 8 commissioner, or, unless and until the commissioner shall otherwise 9 direct, in the office of the agent who issued the certificate, plate, 10 plates, tag or tags and the commissioner or [his or her] the commission- 11 er's agent, as the case may be, shall issue a duplicate or substitute. 12 (ii) (A) In the event that any number plate or set of number plates 13 issued by the commissioner for a registered motor vehicle pursuant to 14 subparagraph (i) of this paragraph has been stolen, the owner of such 15 registered motor vehicle may file such statement and proof of the facts 16 as the commissioner shall require, with a fee of three dollars, in the 17 office of the commissioner, or, unless and until the commissioner shall 18 otherwise direct, in the office of the agent who issued the certificate, 19 plate, plates, tag or tags for such motor vehicle. 20 (B) No later than seven days after receipt of such statement and proof 21 of the facts pursuant to subdivision one of this section, the commis- 22 sioner, or the commissioner's agent, shall: 23 (1) change the distinctive number assigned to such registered motor 24 vehicle, issue a new set of number plates and disassociate the previous 25 distinctive number assigned to such registered motor vehicle; and 26 (2) update the registration record required by subdivision two of this 27 section for such motor vehicle to reflect the change required by item 28 one of this clause. 29 (iii) It shall be the duty of every owner holding a certificate of 30 registration to notify the commissioner in writing of any change of 31 residence of such person within ten days after such change occurs, and 32 to inscribe on such certificate, in the place provided by the commis- 33 sioner, a record of such change of residence. 34 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 35 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 36 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 37 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 38 on or before such effective date.