NY State Senate Bill 2019-S1094

Senate Bill S1094

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or combined use of drugs and alcohol

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to transportation
Jan 10, 2019	referred to transportation

2019-S1094 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Transportation
Law Section:: Vehicle and Traffic Law
Laws Affected:: Add §119-c, amd §1192, V & T L; amd §3380, Pub Health L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S4769
2017-2018: S889

2019-S1094 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or combined use of drugs and alcohol.

2019-S1094 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S1094

SPONSOR: AMEDORE
 
TITLE OF BILL:  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

 
PURPOSE:

To codify the language of a Court of Appeals ruling that will allow law
enforcement to keep up with the proliferation of designer and synthetic
and other chemical substances that, when consumed, result in significant
levels of impairment.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Adds a new section 119-c to the Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) to define
the term inhalant.

Amends subdivisions 4 and 4-A of § 1192 of the VTL relating to operating
a vehicle while impaired by drugs, to codify language from People v.

Cruz (48 N.Y. 2d 419 (1979) to include pharmaceutical and chemical
substances that create such a degree of impairment as to render a motor
vehicle operator incapable of employing the physical and mental abili-
ties which he or she is expected to possess in order to operate a vehi-
cle in a reasonable and prudent manner

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under existing law, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while under
the influence of a drug or drugs, or under the combined influence of
alcohol and drugs. "Drugs" is defined as any substance included in the
list set forth in § 3306 of the Public Health Law.  Unfortunately, the
proliferation of synthetic and boutique drugs, such as "bath salts",
"synthetic marijuana", and diflouroethane (among many others) are not
included in the Public Health Law. This may allow individuals to consume
these substances and operate a motor vehicle without meeting the defi-
nition of being "under the influence" of drugs.

In 2004, Vincent Litto was driving in Brooklyn on a four-lane road with
three occupants in his car. Litto sprayed a can of "Dust-Off' into his
mouth. (Dust-Off contains a hydrocarbon, diflouroethane, which assists
as a propellant and gives the "huffer" an almost immediate high. Inhala-
tion acts as stimulant of the central nervous system, and within
seconds, makes it difficult to perceive and react to the environment.)

About 45 seconds after huffing the Dust-Off, Litto veered into oncoming
traffic. One of the passengers in the oncoming car was killed, and the
driver of that car and two of Litto's passengers were seriously injured.
Nevertheless, because diflouroethane is not included on the list set
forth in PHL § 3306, Litto's disregard for human life could not be pros-
ecuted as vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault. (See People v.
Litto, B NY 3rd 692 (2007).

Disturbingly, as new mind and reaction-altering substances are produced
and consumed, it is extremely difficult for the Legislature to keep up
with today's creative chemistry through the process of adding substances
through statutory changes to the Public Health Law.  Accordingly, this
legislation turns to a long-accepted definition of "intoxicated condi-
tion" established by the Court of Appeals in Cruz, Id., where the Court
of Appeals, established a clear and concise definition for that term
that is equally applicable to impairment by drugs.

Under current law, we may never be able to keep up with the "chemists"
who are working to provide new ways to get high and circumvent existing
drug laws. For example, the use of so-called "synthetic marijuana" not
only causes a marijuana-type high, but can also generate manic and
psychotic episodes. Yet, while organic marijuana is considered a drug
this more potent substance is not. While the burden on the prosecution
will be significant, the use of this expanded definition will provide
prosecutors with a chance to persuade a court that the chemical
substance consumed by a motor vehicle operator had just as great a level
of impairment on the operator as alcohol and/or the drugs listed in PHL
§ 3306.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.4769 of 2016 - Passed Senate.
S.889 Passed Senate in 2017 and 2018.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.

2019-S1094 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1094
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             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:
 
   Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 section 119-c to read as follows:
   § 119-C. INHALANT. THE TERM "INHALANT" WHEN USED IN THIS CHAPTER SHALL
 REFER TO THE SMELLING OR INHALING OF ANY SUBSTANCE SET FORTH IN SUBDIVI-
 SION ONE OF SECTION THIRTY-THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW
 OR  THE PROHIBITED USE OF NITROUS OXIDE AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION FIVE
 OF SUCH SECTION, EXCEPT FOR THE INHALATION OF  ANY  SUCH  SUBSTANCE  FOR
 MEDICAL OR DENTAL PURPOSES.
   § 2. Subdivisions 4 and 4-a of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic
 law, subdivision 4 as added by chapter 47 of the laws of 1988 and subdi-
 vision  4-a  as added by chapter 732 of the laws of 2006, are amended to
 read as follows:
   4. Driving while ability impaired by drugs. No person shall operate  a
 motor vehicle while the person's ability to operate such a motor vehicle
 is impaired by the use of a drug OR INHALANT as defined in this chapter,
 OR  IMPAIRED BY THE VOLUNTARY INGESTION OF ANY OTHER CHEMICAL, INHALANT,
 PHARMACEUTICAL OR OTHER IMPAIRING SUBSTANCE OR COMBINATION OF SUBSTANCES
 TO THE EXTENT THE DRIVER IS INCAPABLE  OF  EMPLOYING  THE  PHYSICAL  AND
 MENTAL  ABILITIES  WHICH  HE  OR  SHE IS EXPECTED TO POSSESS IN ORDER TO
 OPERATE A VEHICLE IN A REASONABLE AND PRUDENT MANNER.
   4-a. Driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs
 or of alcohol and any drug or drugs. No person  shall  operate  a  motor
 vehicle  while  the  person's  ability  to operate such motor vehicle is
 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.

                                                            LBD01218-01-9

 S. 1094                             2
 
 hol and any drug or drugs AND/OR INHALANTS OR BY THE COMBINED  INFLUENCE
 OF  ALCOHOL  OR  ANY  DRUG  OR DRUGS AND/OR INHALANTS WITH ANY CHEMICAL,
 PHARMACEUTICAL, INHALANT OR OTHER IMPAIRING SUBSTANCE OR COMBINATION  OF
 SUBSTANCES  TO THE EXTENT THE DRIVER IS INCAPABLE OF EMPLOYING THE PHYS-
 ICAL AND MENTAL ABILITIES WHICH HE OR SHE  IS  EXPECTED  TO  POSSESS  IN
 ORDER TO OPERATE A VEHICLE IN A REASONABLE AND PRUDENT MANNER.
   §  3.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision 1 of section 3380 of the public
 health law, as amended by chapter 234 of the laws of 1985, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (b) As used in this section hazardous inhalants shall mean and include
 THE HYDROCARBON DIFLUOROETHANE AND any of the preparations of  compounds
 containing one or more of the chemical compounds[;]: amyl nitrite, isoa-
 myl  nitrite,  butyl  nitrite,  isobutyl  nitrite, pentyl nitrite or any
 other [akyl] ALKYL nitrite compound that is either designed to be  used,
 or commonly used, as an inhalant.
   §  4. Section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding
 a new subdivision 13 to read as follows:
   13. IT SHALL BE AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE TO A CHARGE UNDER  SUBDIVISIONS
 FOUR  AND  FOUR-A OF THIS SECTION THAT THE OPERATOR SUFFERED AN ALLERGIC
 REACTION  OR  MEDICAL  EMERGENCY  RATHER  THAN  BEING  IMPAIRED  BY  THE
 SUBSTANCE  OR  COMBINATION  OF  SUBSTANCES,  PROVIDED,  HOWEVER, THAT NO
 DEFENSE SHALL BE AVAILABLE IF ANY SUCH INGESTED SUBSTANCE  IS  CONTAINED
 IN  SECTION  THREE  THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED SIX OR SECTION THREE THOUSAND
 THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW.
   § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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