Albany, NY – Paterson Signs Anti-Texting and Several Other Bills Into Law

Albany, NY – It’s now illegal to text, tweet or surf while driving in New York.

Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday that he signed the anti-texting law among many, including one to ban the use of the ethnic term “Oriental” in state documents.

The governor also vetoed 13 bills that he said would have mandated state spending that was “not absolutely necessary.”

The ban on texting while driving comes with fines up to $150 for using handheld devices or laptops to send text messages or read, view or transmit images or data while a vehicle is moving. Fines could be imposed only as a secondary offense after a driver is pulled over for appearing to break another law. It’s already illegal in the state to talk on a cell phone while driving.

The new measures include Amanda’s Law, which requires all homes to be outfitted with carbon monoxide detectors. The previous law applied only to homes built or sold after July 30, 2002.

The bill is named for Amanda Hansen, a 16-year-old from West Seneca who died in January of carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective boiler while at a sleep-over at her friend’s house.

The detectors can be found in home improvement hardware stores for under $100. Under the law, contractors who replace a hot water tank or furnace would have to install the detectors, too.

Paterson signed other several bills into law, including measures to:

• Add “domestic partner” in a same-sex relationship to the list of people who may consent to organ and tissue donations.

• Require utilities, energy companies, municipalities, telephone companies and cable TV companies to provide large-print versions of bills on request.

• Require state agencies, departments and authorities that let $10 million in contracts a year to create a mentor-protege program between established state contractors and emerging minority- and women-owned businesses seeking state contracts.