File #: Int 1143-2023    Version: * Name: Increasing civil penalties for operating a bicycle, bicycle with electric assist, or electric scooter on the sidewalk.
Type: Introduction Status: Filed (End of Session)
Committee: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
On agenda: 8/3/2023
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to increasing civil penalties for operating a bicycle, bicycle with electric assist, or electric scooter on the sidewalk
Sponsors: James F. Gennaro, Gale A. Brewer, Linda Lee, Justin L. Brannan, Kalman Yeger , Ari Kagan, Inna Vernikov, Joann Ariola
Council Member Sponsors: 8
Summary: This bill would increase each of the existing civil penalties for operating a bicycle, a bicycle with electric assist (commonly referred to as an “e-bike”), or an electric scooter on the sidewalk.
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1143, 2. Int. No. 1143, 3. August 3, 2023 - Stated Meeting Agenda, 4. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 8-3-23, 5. Minutes of the Stated Meeting - August 3, 2023

Int. No. 1143

 

By Council Members Gennaro, Brewer, Lee, Brannan, Yeger, Kagan, Vernikov and Ariola

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to increasing civil penalties for operating a bicycle, bicycle with electric assist, or electric scooter on the sidewalk

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Subdivision b of section 19-176 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law number 6 for the year 1996 and amended by local law number 14 for the year 2002, is amended to read as follows:

b. No person shall ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk unless permitted by an official sign. A person who violates this subdivision may be issued a notice of violation and shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than one hundred and seventy dollars which may be recovered in a proceeding before the environmental control board.

§ 2. Subdivision c of section 19-176 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law number 6 for the year 1996 and amended by local law 14 for the year 2002, is amended to read as follows:

c. A person who violates subdivision b of this section in a manner that endangers any other person or property shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of more than one hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than twenty days or both such fine and imprisonment. Such person shall also be liable for a civil penalty of not less than one hundred and seventy dollars nor more than [three] five hundred and ten dollars, except where a hearing officer has determined that [where] there was physical contact between the rider and another person, an additional civil penalty of not less than one hundred and seventy dollars nor more than [two] three hundred and forty dollars may be imposed. Such civil penalties may be recovered in a proceeding before the environmental control board. Enforcement agents shall indicate on the summons or notice of violation issued pursuant to this subdivision whether physical contact was made between the rider and another person. Any person who violates any provision of this subdivision more than once within a six month period shall be subject to the imposition of civil penalties in an amount that is double what would otherwise have been imposed for the commission of a first violation. It shall be an affirmative defense that physical contact between a rider and another person was in no way the fault of the rider.

§ 3. This local law takes effect immediately.

 

 

 

 

SRB/SS

LS #10714/LS #12263

7/14/2023