NYSBA Opposes NY City Truck Idling Legislation That Could Hurt News Coverage

New York City has laws prohibiting trucks from idling.  Commercial trucks, vans, and buses cannot legally idle for more than 3 minutes on regular streets, or more than 1 minute in areas adjacent to a school or park.  Fines range from $350 to $2000 and are enforced by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

Several years ago, the Department started issuing significant fines to news vehicles that were idling while covering local news events.  NYSBA was able to get the policy changed to exempt news vehicles.

Recently, the New York City Council introduced several bills updating the truck idling laws.  We have filed written testimony with the New York City Council requesting a continuation of the exemption for news vehicles.  We will keep a close watch on this legislation.

You can see the NY City Council’s proposed legislation here.

You can see NYSBA written statement here.