§ 509-J — Compliance required

§ 509-j. Compliance required. (a) Every motor carrier, its officers,\nagents, representatives, and employees responsible for the management,\nmaintenance, operation or driving of motor vehicles, or the hiring,\nsupervising, training, assigning, or dispatching of drivers, shall be\ninstructed in and comply with this article.\n (b) Nothing contained herein shall prevent a motor carrier or\npolitical subdivision from imposing qualifications that are more\nstringent than those contained in this article or from disqualifying a\nperson who has been issued a conditional or restricted use license\npursuant to the provisions of article twenty-one or twenty-one-A of this\nchapter.\n (c) Every motor carrier shall submit an affidavit to the commissioner\nattesting to compliance with this article. Such affidavit shall be\nsubmitted annually, in a manner prescribed by regulations of the\ncommissioner, and shall include as an attachment thereto a copy of the\nreport required by subdivision seven of section five hundred nine-d of\nthis chapter.\n (d) Notwithstanding any provision of any other article of this law,\nwhere an affidavit is not submitted pursuant to this section, the\ncommissioner may, in his discretion, suspend the registration of the\nvehicle or the vehicles or deny registration or renewal to the vehicle\nor vehicles owned or operated by the motor carrier or suspend the motor\ncarrier's privilege of operation in this state. Such suspension or\ndenial shall only remain in effect as long as the motor carrier fails to\nsubmit such affidavit.\n (e) The commissioner or any person deputized by the commissioner, may\nrequire any motor carrier to pay to the people of this state a civil\npenalty, if after the motor carrier has had an opportunity to be heard,\nthe commissioner finds that the motor carrier has violated any provision\nof this article or regulations promulgated therein, or has made any\nfalse statement or misrepresentation on any affidavit of compliance\nfiled with the commissioner or with respect to violations of paragraphs\n(i) and (ii) of subdivision one, paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision\ntwo, and subdivisions three, four and five of section five hundred\nnine-d, section five hundred nine-g, section five hundred nine-h and\nsubdivision two of section five hundred nine-l of this article the\ncommissioner may in lieu of or in addition to a civil penalty suspend\nall of a motor carrier's registrations. Any civil penalty assessed for a\nfirst violation shall not be less than five hundred dollars nor greater\nthan two thousand five hundred dollars for each violation, false\nstatement or representation found to have been made or committed, and\nfor a second or subsequent violation, not arising out of the same\nincident, all of which were committed within a period of eighteen\nmonths, shall not be less than five hundred dollars nor greater than\nfive thousand dollars for each violation, false statement or\nrepresentation found to have been made or committed. If the registrant\nfails to pay such penalty within twenty days after the mailing of such\norder, postage prepaid, certified and addressed to the last known place\nof business of such registrant, unless such order is stayed by an order\nof a court of competent jurisdiction, the commissioner may revoke the\nvehicle registrations or out of state registration privilege of\noperation in the state of such motor carrier or may suspend the same for\nsuch periods as the commissioner may determine. Civil penalties assessed\nunder this subdivision shall be paid to the commissioner for deposit\ninto the state treasury, and unpaid civil penalties may be recovered by\nthe commissioner in a civil action in the name of the commissioner.\n (f) As an alternative to civil action under subdivision (e) of this\nsection and provided that no proceeding for judicial review shall then\nbe pending and the time for initiation of such proceeding shall have\nexpired, the commissioner may file with the county clerk of the county\nin which the registrant is located a final order of the commissioner\ncontaining the amount of the penalty assessed. The filing of such final\norder shall have the same force and effect as a judgment duly docketed\nin the office of a county clerk and may be enforced in the same manner\nand with the same effect as that provided by law.\n (g) Upon the suspension of a vehicle registration pursuant to\nsubdivision (d) or (e) of this section, the commissioner shall have the\nauthority to deny a registration or renewal application to any other\nperson for the same vehicle and may deny a registration or renewal\napplication for any other motor vehicle registered in the name of the\napplicant where the commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe that\nsuch registration or renewal will have the effect of defeating the\npurposes of this article. Such suspension or denial shall remain in\neffect only as long as the suspension entered pursuant to subdivision\n(d) or (e) of this section remains in effect.\n