S 4984: Relates to directing the department of motor vehicles to issue New York drivers' licenses to individuals holding a valid or recently expired driver's license from certain Caribbean countries.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4984 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 14, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- 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 permitting the exchange of drivers licenses from certain countries The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 502 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by 2 adding a new subdivision 1-a to read as follows: 3 1-a. License exchange for certain countries. (a) Notwithstanding any 4 provisions of this section, the commissioner shall accept as valid for 5 purposes of identification, age and examination a driver's license 6 issued from a country listed in paragraph (b) of this subdivision and 7 shall issue a license to drive in this state to an individual holding a 8 license described in paragraph (c) of this subdivision, provided howev- 9 er, the individual shall be subject to the written examination and the 10 vision test required by subdivision four of this section. 11 (b) A drivers license issued by the following countries or territories 12 shall be valid for purposes of paragraph (a) of this subdivision: 13 Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Brit- 14 ish Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican 15 Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Mont- 16 serrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, 17 Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eusta- 18 tius, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and 19 the Virgin Islands of the United States. 20 (c) A license issued by a country listed in paragraph (b) of this 21 subdivision shall be accepted for exchange if it: is valid or has 22 expired within the past six months; states the date upon which it was 23 issued and it was issued a minimum of six months prior to the date of 24 the application; and is not suspended, revoked, lost or stolen. 25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06056-01-5