NY Veh & Traf L § 1803 (2021)
2021 New York Laws VAT - Vehicle and Traffic Title 9 - Penalties and Disposition of Fines and Forfeitures Article 45 - Penalties and Disposition of Fines and Forfeitures 1803 - Disposition of Fines and Forfeitures.

§ 1803. Disposition  of  fines and forfeitures. 1. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision five of section two hundred twenty-seven of this chapter and as provided in section eleven hundred ninety-seven  of  this chapter, section ninety of the state finance law and sections fourteen-f and one hundred forty of the transportation law, all fines and penalties collected  under  a sentence or judgment of conviction of a violation of this chapter or of any act relating to the  use  of  highways  by  motor vehicles  or  trailers,  now  in  force  or  hereafter enacted, shall be distributed in the following manner:   a. for a violation which occurs in a city, town or suburban town,  any fine  or  penalty  shall  be  paid to the city, town or suburban town in which the violation occurs, when such violation is of  (1)  any  of  the provisions  of  title seven of this chapter, but including violations of section eleven hundred eighty only when occurring  in  state  parks  for which  the  office  of  parks,  recreation and historic preservation has established maximum speed limits pursuant  to  section  sixteen  hundred thirty  and  the  violations  could  have been charged under either such established maximum speed limits or another section of this chapter, and when involving maximum speed  limits  established  pursuant  to  section sixteen hundred forty-three, sixteen hundred forty-four, sixteen hundred sixty-two-a, sixteen hundred sixty-three or sixteen hundred seventy, and excluding  violations  of  sections  eleven  hundred  eighty-two, eleven hundred ninety-two and twelve hundred twelve of this chapter, or (2) any ordinance, order, rule or regulation adopted pursuant to  article  two-E of  the  transportation  law  or  section sixteen hundred thirty of this chapter by the East Hudson Parkway Authority or by its successor, or the County of Westchester Department of Parks, Recreation and  Conservation, or  the state office of parks, recreation and historic preservation. For purposes of this paragraph, violations shall be deemed to be  violations of  any  such  ordinance,  order,  rule or regulation when they occur on highways under the jurisdiction  of  the  enumerated  entities  and  the violations  could  have been charged under either such ordinance, order, rule or regulation or another section of this chapter.   b. for a violation which occurs in a village in which  the  office  of village justice is established, any fine or penalty shall be paid to the village in which the violation occurs, when such violation is of (1) any of  the  provisions  of  title  seven  of  this  chapter,  but including violations of section eleven hundred eighty only when occurring in state parks  for  which  the  office  of  parks,   recreation   and   historic preservation  has  established  maximum speed limits pursuant to section sixteen hundred thirty and the violations could have been charged  under either  such established maximum speed limits or another section of this chapter, and when involving maximum speed limits established pursuant to section sixteen  hundred  forty-three,  sixteen  hundred  forty-four  or sixteen  hundred  seventy,  and  excluding violations of sections eleven hundred eighty-two, eleven hundred ninety-two and twelve hundred  twelve of this chapter, or (2) any ordinance, order, rule or regulation adopted pursuant  to  article two-E of the transportation law or section sixteen hundred thirty of this chapter by the East Hudson Parkway  Authority  or by  its  successor,  or  the  County of Westchester Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, or the state office  of  parks,  recreation and  historic  preservation.  For purposes of this paragraph, violations shall be deemed to be violations of any such ordinance, order,  rule  or regulation  when  they  occur  on highways under the jurisdiction of the enumerated entities and the violations could  have  been  charged  under either  such ordinance, order, rule or regulation, or another section of this  chapter.  Notwithstanding  the  foregoing   provisions   of   this paragraph,  all  fines,  penalties  and  forfeitures  for violation of a  village ordinance, local law  or  regulation  adopted  pursuant  to  the authorization  of  paragraph  six  of subdivision (a) of section sixteen hundred forty of this chapter prohibiting, restricting or  limiting  the stopping,  standing or parking of vehicles shall be paid to such village whether or not  the  village  has  established  the  office  of  village justice.   * c.  for  compliance  with  or  violations of subdivision nineteen of section three hundred eighty-five of this chapter,  notwithstanding  any inconsistent  provision  of law, except as provided in section ninety of the state finance law,  the  fees  and  fines  collected  by  the  state pursuant to sections two hundred twenty-seven, three hundred eighty-five and  eighteen hundred three of this chapter and section ninety-nine-a of the state finance law, shall be made available to the state  comptroller for  deposit  in  the  general fund except that fines collected within a city not wholly included within one county shall be paid to such city in accordance with the procedures set forth in subdivision four of  section two  hundred  twenty-seven  of this chapter for deposit into the general fund of such city, and except that an annual  amount  of  three  million dollars  of  fines  collected  within  the  city of New York pursuant to article two-A of this chapter be deposited by  the  comptroller  to  the general fund.   * NB Effective until April 1, 2019   * c.  for  compliance  with  or  violations of subdivision nineteen of section three hundred eighty-five of this chapter,  notwithstanding  any inconsistent  provision  of law, except as provided in section ninety of the state finance law,  the  fees  and  fines  collected  by  the  state pursuant to sections two hundred twenty-seven, three hundred eighty-five and  eighteen hundred three of this chapter and section ninety-nine-a of the state finance law, shall be made available to the state  comptroller for  deposit  in  the  general fund except that fines collected within a city not wholly included within one county shall be paid to such city in accordance with the procedures set forth in subdivision four of  section two  hundred  twenty-seven  of this chapter for deposit into the general fund of such city.   * NB Effective April 1, 2019   d. for violations of section  eleven  hundred  eighty  which  are  not included  in  paragraph a or paragraph b of this subdivision, violations of sections eleven hundred eighty-two, eleven hundred ninety-two, except in those counties adopting a special traffic option program for  driving while  intoxicated  pursuant  to  section eleven hundred ninety-seven of this chapter, and section twelve hundred twelve  of  this  chapter,  and violations of this chapter or of any act relating to the use of highways by  motor  vehicles  or trailers, now in force or hereafter enacted, for which no other distribution is  prescribed,  all  fines,  penalties  and forfeitures shall be paid to the state.   e.  for a violation which occurs within a county which has established a traffic and  parking  violations  agency  pursuant  to  section  three hundred  seventy  of  the  general  municipal  law,  other than parking, standing or stopping violations except for those set  forth  in  section four  hundred two of this chapter, and which violation is disposed of by such agency, any fine or penalty shall be paid to the  county  in  which the violation occurs, when such violation is of any of the provisions of title  seven of this chapter, but including violations of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter only when involving maximum speed  limits in  state  parks  established  by  the  office  of parks, recreation and historic preservation pursuant to section sixteen hundred thirty of this chapter and when involving maximum speed limits established pursuant  to section sixteen hundred forty-three, sixteen hundred forty-four, sixteen  hundred  sixty-two-a,  sixteen  hundred  sixty-three  or sixteen hundred seventy of this chapter, and excluding  violations  of  sections  eleven hundred  eighty-two, eleven hundred ninety-two and twelve hundred twelve of this chapter.   2.  Whenever  a  defendant is arrested and arraigned before a judicial officer authorized to conduct any proceedings in or in  connection  with any prosecution triable in any local court of inferior jurisdiction of a city or before a town court, or a village court on a charge in which the state  is  entitled  to  all  fines  and  penalties  under a sentence or judgment of conviction such city, town or village shall be  entitled  to receive  the  fees  set  forth  in  section ninety-nine-l of the general municipal law and such fees shall be a state charge and paid as provided in section ninety-nine-a of the state finance law.   * 3. All fines, penalties and forfeitures paid  to  a  city,  town  or village  pursuant to the provisions of paragraph a of subdivision one of this section and subdivision ten of this section shall  be  credited  to the  general  fund  of  such  city,  town or village, unless a different disposition  is  prescribed  by  charter,  special  law,  local  law  or ordinance.   * NB Effective until December 1, 2024   * 3.  All  fines,  penalties  and  forfeitures paid to a city, town or village pursuant to the provisions of paragraph a of subdivision one  of this section shall be credited to the general fund of such city, town or village,  unless  a  different  disposition  is  prescribed  by charter, special law, local law or ordinance.   * NB Effective December 1, 2024   4. All fines, penalties and forfeitures  collected  in  a  city,  upon conviction  or  upon  forfeiture  of  bail  by any person charged with a violation  of  any  local  law,  ordinance,  order,  rule,   regulation, administrative  code  provision  or  sanitary  or  health code provision adopted or continued pursuant to this chapter, shall be paid to the city and credited to its general fund,  unless  a  different  disposition  is prescribed by charter, special law, local law or ordinance.   5.  All  fines,  penalties  and  forfeitures for violations of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter, which  relate  to  maximum  speed limits  established  by  a  village pursuant to sections sixteen hundred forty-three and  sixteen  hundred  forty-four  or  by  a  suburban  town pursuant to section sixteen hundred sixty-two-a of this chapter, and all bail  forfeited  by  the  non-appearance of defendants charged with such violations shall be paid over to the state  comptroller  by  the  court, justice  or  other officer collecting the same within the first ten days of the month following the collection, except as otherwise  provided  by subdivision  three  of  section  ninety-nine-a of the state finance law. Whenever  such  fines,  penalties  and   forfeitures,   including   bail forfeited,  in  any year commencing July first shall aggregate in excess of five dollars for each inhabitant of the village or suburban town,  as the  case  may  be, according to the last preceding federal census, such excess shall be the property of the state and shall  be  paid  into  the general fund of the state treasury.   6.  The  comptroller from the moneys received pursuant to this section shall, within six years  from  the  receipt  thereof,  refund  any  fine received  pursuant  to  this  section which was imposed by a judgment of conviction that has been reversed and any fine,  penalty  or  forfeiture received  by  the comptroller, payment of which was not required by this section. In any action by the state  to  recover  fines,  penalties,  or forfeitures collected more than six years before the commencement of the action, the defendant shall be entitled to set off a claim for refund of  any  such  item  paid  to  the  state during the ten years preceding the commencement of the action.   8. All fines, penalties and forfeitures referred to in subdivision one of  this  section,  except  fines, penalties and forfeitures paid to the commissioner of taxation and finance as required by section  thirty-nine of  the  judiciary  law, and except as otherwise provided in subdivision three of section ninety-nine-a of the state finance law, shall  be  paid to  the  state  comptroller  by  the  court,  judge, magistrate or other officer within the first ten days of  the  month  following  collection. Every  such  payment  to  the  comptroller  shall  be  accompanied  by a statement in such form and detail as the comptroller shall prescribe.   9. Where a county establishes a special traffic  options  program  for driving  while  intoxicated,  approved  by  the  commissioner  of  motor vehicles, pursuant  to  section  eleven  hundred  ninety-seven  of  this chapter,  all fines, penalties and forfeitures collected from violations of subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision  two  or subparagraph  (i)  of paragraph (a) of subdivision three of section five hundred  eleven,  all  fines,  penalties  and  forfeitures  imposed   in accordance  with  section  eleven  hundred  ninety-three of this chapter collected from violations of section eleven hundred ninety-two  of  this chapter;  and  any  fines  or forfeitures collected by any court, judge, magistrate or other officer imposed upon a  conviction  for:  aggravated vehicular  assault,  pursuant  to  section  120.04-a  of  the penal law; vehicular assault in the first degree, pursuant to section 120.04 of the penal law; vehicular assault in the second degree, pursuant  to  section 120.03  of  the  penal  law;  aggravated vehicular homicide, pursuant to section 125.14 of the penal law; vehicular  manslaughter  in  the  first degree,  pursuant  to  section  125.13  of  the penal law; and vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, pursuant to  section  125.12  of  the penal  law  and  civil  penalties imposed pursuant to subdivision two of section eleven hundred ninety-four-a of this chapter, shall be  paid  to such county.  (a)  Any  such  fine,  penalty,  or forfeiture collected by any court, judge, magistrate or other officer referred to  in  subdivision  one  of section  thirty-nine  of the judiciary law, establishing a unified court budget, shall be paid to that county within the first ten  days  of  the month following collection.  (b)  Any  such  fine,  penalty,  or  forfeiture collected by any other court, judge, magistrate or other officer, including, where appropriate, a hearing officer acting on behalf of the commissioner, shall be paid to the state comptroller within the first ten days of the  month  following collection.  Every  such payment to the comptroller shall be accompanied by a statement in such form and detail as the comptroller shall provide. The comptroller shall pay  these  funds  to  the  county  in  which  the violation occurs.  (c) Upon receipt of any monies referred to in this section, the county shall  deposit  them  in  a  separate  account entitled "special traffic options program for driving while intoxicated".   * 10. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph e of  subdivision  one of  this section, where a county has established a demonstration program imposing monetary liability on the owner of a vehicle for failure of  an operator  thereof  to comply with section eleven hundred seventy-four of this chapter in accordance with section eleven hundred seventy-four-a of this  chapter,  any  fine  or  penalty  collected  by  a  court,  judge, magistrate  or other officer for an imposition of liability which occurs within such county pursuant to such program shall be paid to  the  state comptroller within the first ten days of the month following collection. Every  such payment shall be accompanied by a statement in such form and  detail as the comptroller  shall  provide.  The  comptroller  shall  pay ninety percent of any such fine or penalty imposed for such liability to the county in which the violation giving rise to the liability occurred, and ten percent of any such fine or penalty to the city, town or village in which the violation giving rise to the liability occurred.   * NB Repealed December 1, 2024   * 11.  Except  as otherwise provided in paragraph e of subdivision one of  this  section,  where  the  commissioner   of   transportation   has established  a  demonstration program imposing monetary liability on the owner of a vehicle for failure of an operator  thereof  to  comply  with subdivision  (b),  (d),  (f)  or (g) of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter in accordance with section eleven hundred eighty-e of  this chapter,  any fine or penalty collected by a court, judge, magistrate or other officer for an imposition of liability which  occurs  pursuant  to such program shall be paid to the state comptroller within the first ten days  of  the  month  following  collection. Every such payment shall be accompanied by a statement in such form and detail  as  the  comptroller shall provide. The comptroller shall pay eighty percent of any such fine or  penalty  imposed  for such liability to the general fund, and twenty percent of any such fine or penalty to the  city,  town  or  village  in which  the violation giving rise to the liability occurred. With respect to the percentage of fines or penalties paid to  the  general  fund,  no less   than   sixty   percent   shall  be  dedicated  to  department  of transportation work zone safety projects after  deducting  the  expenses necessary  to  administer such demonstration program, provided, however, that such funds provided pursuant to this subdivision shall  be  payable on  the  audit  and warrant of the comptroller and shall only be used to supplement and not supplant current expenditures of state funds on  work zone  safety  projects. For the purposes of this subdivision, "work zone safety projects" shall apply to work zones under the jurisdiction of the department of transportation and shall include, but not be  limited  to, inspection  and implementation of work zone design, maintenance, traffic plans  and  markings,  worker  safety  training,  contractor   outreach, enforcement  efforts,  radar  speed  display  signs at major active work zones and police presence at major active work  zones,  as  provided  in section  twenty-two  of the transportation law. All fines, penalties and forfeitures paid to a city, town or village pursuant to  the  provisions of  this subdivision shall be credited to the general fund of such city, town or  village,  unless  a  different  disposition  is  prescribed  by charter, special law, local law or ordinance.   * NB Repealed October 6, 2026   * 12.  Except  as otherwise provided in paragraph e of subdivision one of this section, where the chair of the New York state thruway authority has established a demonstration program imposing monetary  liability  on the owner of a vehicle for failure of an operator thereof to comply with subdivision  (b),  (d),  (f)  or (g) of section eleven hundred eighty of this chapter in accordance with section eleven hundred eighty-e of  this chapter,  any fine or penalty collected by a court, judge, magistrate or other officer for an imposition of liability which  occurs  pursuant  to such program shall be paid to the state comptroller within the first ten days  of  the  month  following  collection. Every such payment shall be accompanied by a statement in such form and detail  as  the  comptroller shall provide. The comptroller shall pay eighty percent of any such fine or  penalty  imposed  for  such  liability to the thruway authority, and twenty percent of any such fine or penalty to the city, town or  village in  which  the  violation  giving  rise  to the liability occurred. With respect to the percentage of fines or  penalties  paid  to  the  thruway authority,  no  less  than  sixty  percent shall be dedicated to thruway  authority  work  zone  safety  projects  after  deducting  the  expenses necessary  to  administer such demonstration program, provided, however, that such funds provided pursuant to this subdivision shall  be  payable on  the  audit  and warrant of the comptroller and shall only be used to supplement and not supplant current expenditures of state funds on  work zone  safety  projects. For the purposes of this subdivision, "work zone safety projects" shall apply to work zones under the jurisdiction of the thruway authority and shall include, but not be limited  to,  inspection and  implementation  of work zone design, maintenance, traffic plans and markings,  worker  safety  training,  contractor  outreach,  enforcement efforts, radar speed display signs at major active work zones and police presence  at  major active work zones, as provided in section twenty-two of the transportation law. For the purposes  of  this  subdivision,  the term   "thruway  authority"  shall  mean  the  New  York  state  thruway authority,  a  body  corporate  and  politic   constituting   a   public corporation  created  and  constituted pursuant to title nine of article two of the public authorities law. All fines, penalties and  forfeitures paid  to  a  city,  town  or  village pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision shall be credited to the general fund of such city, town  or village,  unless  a  different  disposition  is  prescribed  by charter, special law, local law or ordinance.   * NB Repealed October 6, 2026