A 553: Establishes optional pilot programs for the county of Westchester, for local police departments to use electronic scanning devices to determine whether or not the operator of a vehicle was using a mobile phone or portable electronic device near the time of an accident or collision.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 553 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to creating a pilot program for the field testing of mobile telephones or portable electronic devices by local police departments in Westchester county; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration there- of 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 1225-e to read as follows: 3 § 1225-e. Pilot program for field testing of mobile telephones and 4 portable electronic devices. 1. Purpose. For the county of Westchester, 5 the commissioner shall authorize a two year pilot program for such coun- 6 ty to allow local police departments to field test mobile telephones and 7 portable electronic devices following an accident or collision involving 8 damage to real or personal property, personal injury or death. The 9 commissioner shall not require any police department to participate in 10 such program. 11 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section: 12 (a) "Field testing" shall mean the use of an electronic scanning 13 device: 14 (1) approved and utilized in accordance with rules jointly promulgated 15 by the commissioner and the commissioner of criminal justice services; 16 (2) approved and certified for use by Westchester county; 17 (3) used only to scan the log records on the mobile telephone or port- 18 able electronic device of the operator of the motor vehicle to determine 19 whether or not the operator of a motor vehicle was using a mobile tele- 20 phone or a portable electronic device in violation of section twelve 21 hundred twenty-five-c or twelve hundred twenty-five-d of this article, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01992-01-5 
 A. 553 2 1 provided, however, that such use of an electronic scanning device shall 2 be limited to a search of log records that have been activated by typing 3 or swiping actions on a mobile telephone or electronic portable device 4 in the prior sixty minutes in determining whether the operator of a 5 motor vehicle was using a mobile telephone or portable electronic device 6 in violation of either such section at or near the time of the accident 7 or collision which provides the grounds for such testing. No such elec- 8 tronic scan shall access, collect or store user data or the content or 9 origin of any communication or game conducted, or image or electronic 10 data viewed, on a mobile telephone or portable electronic device. 11 (b) "Log records" shall mean the log records of keyboard usage, activ- 12 ity logs and applications logs for mobile telephones and portable elec- 13 tronic devices. For the purposes of this section, log records shall 14 include only log records which have been activated by typing or swiping 15 a mobile telephone or portable electronic device, and shall not include 16 any log records that were activated by Bluetooth or voice activation 17 technology. 18 (c) "Mobile telephone" shall mean a mobile telephone as defined in 19 paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c 20 of this article. 21 (d) "Portable electronic device" shall mean a portable electronic 22 device as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section twelve 23 hundred twenty-five-d of this article. 24 (e) "User data" shall mean text messages, contacts, call history, 25 pictures, videos, files, contents of databases, contents of applica- 26 tions, names of applications or deleted data. 27 (f) "Using" shall mean: 28 (1) for the purposes of mobile telephones, as defined in paragraph (c) 29 of subdivision one of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c of this arti- 30 cle; and 31 (2) for the purposes of portable electronic devices, as defined in 32 paragraph (b) of subdivision two of section twelve hundred twenty-five-d 33 of this article. 34 3. Scope of field testing. (a) Every person operating a motor vehicle 35 which has been involved in an accident or collision involving damage to 36 real or personal property, personal injury or death, and who has in such 37 person's possession at or near the time of such accident or collision, a 38 mobile telephone or personal electronic device, shall at the request of 39 a police officer, submit such person's mobile telephone and/or portable 40 electronic device to the police officer solely for the purpose of field 41 testing such mobile telephone and/or portable electronic device. If such 42 field testing determines that the operator of the motor vehicle was 43 using their mobile telephone or portable electronic device in violation 44 of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c or twelve hundred twenty-five-d 45 of this article, the results of such testing shall constitute evidence 46 of any such violation. 47 (b) The department, Westchester county and any police departments and 48 their respective agents participating in the pilot program authorized by 49 this section may store log records collected during electronic scans and 50 use such log records only to determine the accuracy of field testing and 51 the prevalence of violations of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c or 52 twelve hundred twenty-five-d of this article. No user data may be 53 collected or stored by the department, Westchester county or any police 54 departments or their respective agents participating in the pilot 55 program authorized by this section. 
 A. 553 3 1 4. Report. At the conclusion of such pilot program, the commissioner 2 in consultation with the commissioner of criminal justice services shall 3 assess the program and submit a report to the legislature and the gover- 4 nor, which shall include, but not be limited to, the impact of the 5 program on reducing traffic accidents, the amount of phones tested, and 6 data analyzing the cost, efficiency, and accuracy of the field testing. 7 5. Participation. Participation in the pilot program for the county of 8 Westchester shall be optional and subject to participation guidelines 9 established by the commissioner. 10 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 11 have become a law and shall expire and be deemed repealed two years 12 after such date.