S 5205: Allows current, active and retired military service members and reserve units of the state to qualify for distinctive license plates; allows the spouse to also qualify for such distinctive plates.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5205 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 19, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- 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 allowing retired service members to qualify for distinctive license plates The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 404-d of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by 2 chapter 486 of the laws of 1996 and subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 3 415 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as follows: 4 § 404-d. Distinctive plates for members of the organized militia and 5 reserve. 1. Any current, active or retired member of the organized mili- 6 tia of the state of New York and any member of a reserve unit from this 7 state of any branch of the armed forces of the United States or the 8 spouse of any such member shall, upon request, be issued a license plate 9 bearing a militiaman and the appropriate organization -- army national 10 guard, air national guard, state guard or naval militia, army reserve, 11 marine corps reserve, air force reserve, navy reserve or coast guard 12 reserve. If a distinctive plate is issued to a member of the organized 13 militia pursuant to this section, such a distinctive plate shall not be 14 issued to the spouse of such member of the organized militia. Applica- 15 tion for said license plate shall be filed with the commissioner in such 16 form and detail as the commissioner shall prescribe, and shall be veri- 17 fied annually by the applicant. 18 2. The distinctive plate authorized in subdivision one of this section 19 shall be issued upon proof, satisfactory to the commissioner, that the 20 applicant or the spouse of the applicant is presently [an] a current, 21 active or retired member of the organized militia or reserve. 22 3. A distinctive plate issued pursuant to this section shall be issued 23 in the same manner as other number plates upon payment of the regular 24 registration fee prescribed by section four hundred one of this article 25 provided, however, that an additional one-time service charge of ten 26 dollars shall be charged for such plate. 27 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07776-01-5