N.Y. Vehicle & Traffic Law § 509-j: Compliance required

§ 509-j. Compliance required. (a) Every motor carrier, its officers,

agents, representatives, and employees responsible for the management,

maintenance, operation or driving of motor vehicles, or the hiring,

supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching of drivers, shall be

instructed in and comply with this article.

(b) Nothing contained herein shall prevent a motor carrier or

political subdivision from imposing qualifications that are more

stringent than those contained in this article or from disqualifying a

person who has been issued a conditional or restricted use license

pursuant to the provisions of article twenty-one or twenty-one-A of this

chapter.

(c) Every motor carrier shall submit an affidavit to the commissioner

attesting to compliance with this article. Such affidavit shall be

submitted annually, in a manner prescribed by regulations of the

commissioner, and shall include as an attachment thereto a copy of the

report required by subdivision seven of section five hundred nine-d of

this chapter.

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of any other article of this law,

where an affidavit is not submitted pursuant to this section, the

commissioner may, in his discretion, suspend the registration of the

vehicle or the vehicles or deny registration or renewal to the vehicle

or vehicles owned or operated by the motor carrier or suspend the motor

carrier's privilege of operation in this state. Such suspension or

denial shall only remain in effect as long as the motor carrier fails to

submit such affidavit.

(e) The commissioner or any person deputized by the commissioner, may

require any motor carrier to pay to the people of this state a civil

penalty, if after the motor carrier has had an opportunity to be heard,

the commissioner finds that the motor carrier has violated any provision

of this article or regulations promulgated therein, or has made any

false statement or misrepresentation on any affidavit of compliance

filed with the commissioner or with respect to violations of paragraphs

(i) and (ii) of subdivision one, paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision

two, and subdivisions three, four and five of section five hundred

nine-d, section five hundred nine-g, section five hundred nine-h and

subdivision two of section five hundred nine-l of this article the

commissioner may in lieu of or in addition to a civil penalty suspend

all of a motor carrier's registrations. Any civil penalty assessed for a

first violation shall not be less than five hundred dollars nor greater

than two thousand five hundred dollars for each violation, false

statement or representation found to have been made or committed, and

for a second or subsequent violation, not arising out of the same

incident, all of which were committed within a period of eighteen

months, shall not be less than five hundred dollars nor greater than

five thousand dollars for each violation, false statement or

representation found to have been made or committed. If the registrant

fails to pay such penalty within twenty days after the mailing of such

order, postage prepaid, certified and addressed to the last known place

of business of such registrant, unless such order is stayed by an order

of a court of competent jurisdiction, the commissioner may revoke the

vehicle registrations or out of state registration privilege of

operation in the state of such motor carrier or may suspend the same for

such periods as the commissioner may determine. Civil penalties assessed

under this subdivision shall be paid to the commissioner for deposit

into the state treasury, and unpaid civil penalties may be recovered by

the commissioner in a civil action in the name of the commissioner.

(f) As an alternative to civil action under subdivision (e) of this

section and provided that no proceeding for judicial review shall then

be pending and the time for initiation of such proceeding shall have

expired, the commissioner may file with the county clerk of the county

in which the registrant is located a final order of the commissioner

containing the amount of the penalty assessed. The filing of such final

order shall have the same force and effect as a judgment duly docketed

in the office of a county clerk and may be enforced in the same manner

and with the same effect as that provided by law.

(g) Upon the suspension of a vehicle registration pursuant to

subdivision (d) or (e) of this section, the commissioner shall have the

authority to deny a registration or renewal application to any other

person for the same vehicle and may deny a registration or renewal

application for any other motor vehicle registered in the name of the

applicant where the commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe that

such registration or renewal will have the effect of defeating the

purposes of this article. Such suspension or denial shall remain in

effect only as long as the suspension entered pursuant to subdivision

(d) or (e) of this section remains in effect.