Parking Ticket Warriors and Cops are Ignoring Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Orders

Parking Ticket Warriors and cops are issuing forbidden registration and inspection tickets

The Darth Vader parking ticket team is handing out parking tickets like gummy bears. To be clean, Governor Cuomo’s executive orders prohibit issuing parking tickets for:

• Registrations that expired on or after March 1, 2020.
• Vehicle inspections are set to expire on or after March 20, 2020

The Governor has since extended these restrictions by further executive orders.

Why have these orders been ignored?

(Parking ticket) Executive Order No. 202.8 is provided in the pertinent part:

WHEREAS:

on March 7, 2020, I issued Executive Order Number 202, declaring a State disaster emergency for the entire State of New York;

both travel-related cases and community contact transmission of COVID-19 have been documented in New York State and are expected to continue;

 in order to facilitate the most timely and effective response to the COVID-19 emergency disaster, it is critical for New York State to be able to act quickly to gather, coordinate, and deploy goods, services, professionals, and volunteers of all kinds; and

And now, the

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to temporarily suspend or modify any statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation, or parts thereof, of any agency during a State disaster emergency, if compliance with the such statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay action necessary to cope with the disaster emergency or if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, I hereby temporarily suspend or modify, for the period from the date of this Executive Order through April 19, 2020, the following:

Here comes the meat and potatoes

• Subdivision 1 of Section 503 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, to the extent that it provides for a period of validity and expiration of a driver’s license, in order to extend for the duration of this executive order the validity of driver’s licenses that expire on or after March 1, 2020;
• Subdivision 1 of Section 491 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, to the extent that it provides for a period of validity and expiration of a non-driver identification card, in order to extend for the duration of this executive order the validity of non-driver identification cards that expire on or after March 1, 2020;
• Sections 401, 410, 2222, 2251, 2261, and 2282(4) of the Vehicle and Traffic law, to the extent that it provides for a period of validity and expiration of a registration certificate or number plate for a motor vehicle or trailer, a motorcycle, a snowmobile, a vessel, a limited use vehicle, and an all-terrain vehicle, respectively, in order to extend for the duration of this executive order the validity of such registration certificate or number plate that expires on or after March 1, 2020;
• Section 420-a of the vehicle and traffic law to the extent that it provides an expiration for temporary registration documents issued by auto dealers to extend the validity of such during the duration of this executive order.

The VTL portions of this executive order were extended through August 5, 2020, by subsequent executive orders.

executive order no. 202

executive order no. 202.8

executive order no. 202.11

executive order no. 202.28

executive order no. 202.48

This is what Gridlock Sam had to say about the overabundance of parking tickets

“In another example of the state and city not communicating or playing well, the NYPD has begun issuing tickets for expired inspection stickers. This is despite the fact that inspections are governed by the state, and Governor Cuomo wisely announced months ago, due to the coronavirus lockdown, that as long as your sticker was valid in March it would be good until at least the latest extension date of Aug. 5. Even Gridlock Sam put off his inspection until this week!

I contacted the city and, so far, they aren’t going to automatically dismiss these summonses, even though with past errors they have made such arrangements. So, if you’re one of the unlucky ones who got a ticket, plead Not Guilty and you can use this column as evidence. In addition, cite Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order EO 202.11, which was continued by EO 202.48.”

NY State DMV suspended motor vehicle inspections

New York drivers worried about an inspection sticker set to expire no longer have to worry (except while driving or parking in NYC!)

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles announced Monday that Vehicle safety and emission inspections set to expire on March 31, 2020, or later will be extended until further notice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the latest announcement from the DMV as the state works to stop the spread of the virus. On March 23rd, DMV offices were closed until further notice, and all road tests were suspended.

In addition to the extension of vehicle inspections, all Licenses, Non-Driver IDs, and Registrations with an expiration date of March 1, 2020, or later are also extended. 

Commentary

So, now what?

I agree with Gridlock Sam. If you are one of the unlucky recipients of these bogus parking tickets, fight ’em!

I would frame my defense in terms of “I am not guilty of this parking violation because:”

-Expired registration tickets were suspended by Gov. Cuomo’s executive orders for all registrations expiring on or after March 1, 2020. My registration was due to expire on __________.

Or,

-Expired inspection tickets were suspended by Gov. Cuomo’s executive orders for all inspection stickers expiring on or after March 20, 2020. My inspection sticker was due to expire on ________________.

Be safe!