PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
This is a consensus rule making to amend Part 76 of Title 15 NYCRR.
Statutory authority:
Vehicle and Traffic Law, sections 215 and 394
Subject:
Driving schools.
Purpose:
Makes technical and clarifying amendments to improve consumer protection and increases department efficiency.
Substance of proposed rule (Full text is posted at the following State website:www.nys.dmv.gov):
The purpose of this proposed rulemaking is to conform Part 76 to current procedures or planned updates intended to increase efficiency, and to correct errors and delete references to obsolete Departmental procedures in relation to driving schools and driving school instructors.
The key changes include:
Clarifications and revisions to driving school and driving school instructor forms;
Changes to the period of validity for driving school licenses and certificates;
Extends the time within which driving school license may be renewed;
Deletes references to the three hour pre-licensing course, which is now 5 hours;
Changes the square footage of a driving school classroom space from 200 to 150 square feet for the first ten or fewer students and from 20 to 15 square feet for each additional student to correspond with the point and insurance reduction requirements;
Eliminates references to a vehicle certificate, which was discontinued by the Department prior to 1990;
Eliminates the requirement that a driving instructor must first be certified as an instructor for “car” instruction;
Clarifies the requirements for instructor-applicants seeking to instruct in a vehicles requiring a higher class license than they hold;
Eliminates the subdivision which allows driving school’s desiring to employ a previously certified instructor to obtain any and all notices on form MV-526 previously filed by other schools with respect to the instructor’s termination;
Deletes references to a “student record card”, and to a “bound book” related to record receipts and disbursements, and permits driving schools to keep these records electronically;
Deletes an obsolete process in subdivision (g) of section 76.8 which states that “[a] duplicating process such as ditto or mimeograph will not be considered to constitute preprinting for the purposes of this section”; and
Adds “or other payment method as specified by the commissioner” which would allow for fees related to driving schools to be paid in forms other than check or money order.
The full text of the proposed rule is available on the DMV’s website at www.dmv.ny.gov.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
Heidi Bazicki, DMV, 6 Empire State Plaza, Rm. 522A, Albany, NY 12228, (518) 474-0871, email: heidi.bazicki@dmv.ny.gov
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
David Cadalso, DMV, 6 Empire State Plaza, Rm. 522A, Albany, NY 12228, (518) 474-0871, email: heidi.bazicki@dmv.ny.gov
Public comment will be received until:
45 days after publication of this notice.
Consensus Rule Making Determination
The purpose of this proposed rulemaking is to conform Part 76 to current procedures or planned updates intended to increase efficiency, and to correct errors and delete references to obsolete Departmental procedures in relation to driving schools and driving school instructors.
These amendments include changes to driving school and driving school instructor application forms, the types of application or renewal documents necessary for driving school and/or driving school instructor applications or renewals, changes to the application submission process and changes to the period of validity of driving school licenses and driving instructors’ certificates.
The changes to the validity of the driving school licenses and instructor certificates would spread out the workload for Department employees over the course of the year rather than requiring that all renewals due to expire that year be processed by the end of June (for driving schools) and by the end of September (for instructors). These changes would also avoid the additional work that goes along with the proration of fees paid for licenses that expire in less than full-year increments, as is required under Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 394. With these changes, all driving school licenses and driving instructor certificates would be valid for a full year from when originally issued or two full years from when renewed, with the exception instructors with out-of-state issued driver licenses. Those certificates will expire on the last day of the twelfth month following the date of the New York certificate issuance.
This proposal also extends the time within which driving school licenses may be renewed. Currently, driving school licenses have to be renewed prior to expiration; otherwise, the driving school has to reapply for the license which includes, among other things, physical inspection of the place of business by a Department employee. This change would allow driving schools to renew the license up to six months following expiration, saving Department employees the additional work that goes along with processing the application of an otherwise qualified driving school.
Other changes in this proposal include deleting reference to the “three-hour prelicensing course” and replacing it with the term “Pre-licensing course” because individuals seeking a drivers’ license are now required to take a five hour long course; changing the square footage of a driving school classroom space from 200 to 150 square feet for the first ten or fewer students and from 20 to 15 square feet for each additional student to correspond with the point and insurance reduction requirements; eliminating references to a vehicle certificate, which was discontinued by the Department prior to 1990; eliminating the requirement that a driving instructor must first be certified as an instructor for “car” instruction; and clarifying the requirements for instructor-applicants seeking to instruct in a vehicles requiring a higher class license than they hold. This proposal also eliminates the subdivision which allows driving school’s desiring to employ a previously certified instructor to obtain any and all notices on form MV-526 previously filed by other schools with respect to the instructor’s termination. Such requests are very rare and such notices contain instructor personal information. This proposal also deletes references to a “student record card”, and to a “bound book” related to record receipts and disbursements, and permits driving schools to keep these records electronically. It also deletes an obsolete process in subdivision (g) of section 76.8 which states that “[a] duplicating process such as ditto or mimeograph will not be considered to constitute preprinting for the purposes of this section”, and re-letters the subsequent subdivisions to account for such deletion.
Changes made to correct errors include replacing the term “licensed” with “certified” when referring to instructors in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of section 76.1 because instructors are certified and not licensed by the Department, and adding “with dual controls on foot brakes” in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of section 76.11 because this language was mistakenly deleted in a previous amendment. Changes to reflect current procedures include adding “or other payment method as specified by the commissioner” which would allow for fees related to driving schools to be paid in forms other than check or money order.
The proposed rule focuses on efficiencies, clarifications and removing obsolete provisions. Therefore, it is submitted as a consensus rule because there are no persons or businesses likely to object.
Job Impact Statement
A Job Impact Statement is not submitted because this rule will have no adverse impact on job creation or job development in New York State.
