Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Signs Legislation Cracking Down on Noisy, Illegal Mufflers and Exhaust Systems to Protect Public Health, Safety and Quality of Life

Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation that increases penalties against motorists and repair shops that illegally modify mufflers and exhaust systems to make them excessively noisy — an act associated with aggressive driving that harms community health, safety and comfort. This bill amends vehicle and traffic law, increasing fines and penalties and creating stricter regulations on vehicle equipment. Maximum fines for installing illegal equipment will be raised to $1,000, an $850 increase. Inspection stations will also be required to inspect motorcycles to ensure mufflers and exhausts have not been illegally modified.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Good morning Bay Ridge. All right, well, come on. I just want to say you're all a little tired now, but after we sign this into law, you're going to get a good night's sleep, okay? So the next time we get together, you'll be a lot more awake than you are right now. But I understand if you're a little groggy this morning, because we haven't signed this yet.

First of all, thank you. It's great to be in this beautiful center. And I want to thank all my friends, Carlo and Jack Spatola and others who are the leaders of this community. And I want to thank so many for joining us coming out today, but the credit goes to our Senator. And what you're going to see me do in a few minutes is sign a bill. I'm very good. My handwriting's not great. I went to a Catholic grade schools and I was a little rebellious with the nuns. So I do not have the beautiful handwriting that most people have when they've been educated by nuns, so just cut me some slack. But I will be signing this and I will be signing it because of a lot of work that gone on that went on before

It was people like Maureen who said, we don't have to take this anymore. This is our neighborhood. We want to have a quality of life that every one of us deserves. And when that quality of life is impinged on, reduced, some people have the courage to stand up while others don't engage in the fight. But we're here today because of you and the advocates who stepped up.

I want to thank all of you for what you've done in getting us here today, but then you need a partner in government. You need to have someone who listens to you, someone who cares so deeply about this community, and maybe the fact that our Senator has a ten month old baby who doesn't sleep that much anyhow. And he just needs every bit of sleep he can get. Hi Evan. So I want to thank Senator Andrew Gounardes for his leadership on this issue. Also very good in the district of Bill Colton, Assemblymember. Thank you for joining us today. Jaime Williams, who is very concerned about these quality of life issues as well, and is a great fighter for this for Brooklyn in our State Capitol. Bill Magnarelli who's an Assemblymember from upstate who was the co-sponsor of this. So I just want to thank all of you for caring enough. That's what this is about.

The reason I ran for local government is I was a citizen, a young mom, a couple of kids. I didn't like what was going on in my hometown. I didn't like the development pressures. I didn't like the way that they are ignoring the needs of the people. And I started going to town board meetings week after week after week. And they ignored me. They didn't listen to me. And I started getting kind of fed up and I said, the only way I'm going to make a difference and try and enhance the lives of others as well as my own family, is to get on the other side and run for office and make change.

So when I see a community that stood up for itself and fought back and fights for other people, you know I'm with you spiritually, because this is why I'm here today. That's how I got my start in politics was caring about quality of life issues. And this is truly a collaborative effort, as I mentioned.

I want to thank our leaders for doing this and, you know, be talking about noise in the City of New York. We're used to noise, we really are. Now there's construction going on. Carlo is always happy when he sees construction going on as the head of the Building Congress, so this is a good thing for Carlo. You know, we hear sirens and sadly, we heard far too many sirens during the early months of the pandemic.

So, we're used to this. This is not something that we don't deal with on a regular basis. But when there's voluntary noise, noise that does not have to be there, and it assaults your ears at a time when you should be getting the rest your body desperately needs after a long day as a New Yorker, then we have to step up and do something.

And I'm familiar with the circumstance because I live in a condo. Summer nights, the windows are open and somehow the parking lot outside my house has a favorite spot of drag racing. I heard those noises in my own community night after night. And you put the pillow over your head, you close the window and you just adapt or you have leaders, like Maureen and our Senator, who stand up and say no, no longer. So this is what you have done, not just for your community. When we signed this bill, you did that for people across the state. And I want to give us some of the details of what this bill is all about.

The SLEEP Act, who thought of that? Very clever. I mean, as clever goods, good stuff. SLEEP stands for Stop Loud and Excessive Exhaust Pollution. This was something that was chronicle, not just from the communities, but the newspapers. I want to thank the media for bringing this to the forefront as well. That's sometimes how you create the public pressure for change.

And that's exactly what happened here. And New Yorkers made over 3000 calls to 311 making complaints. That's 3000 people who felt annoyed enough, frustrated enough. We just had to pick up the call or contact 311 and make a complaint. That shouldn't have had to happen. And others who feel that they have the ability to assault people in their community with the loud drag racing noise and these loud mufflers on their motorcycles and cars, they seem to not care about other people. And now we're giving them a message you need to care or else there are financial consequences.

So what we have is this bill is going to stop repair shops from being able to install these enhanced noise devices. It will prohibit repair shops or entities from selling, offering for sale or installing any muffler exhaust system that increases noise. And to do that, you also have to have penalties. We'll suspend the operating license of an inspection station upon a third or subsequent willful violation. So, you're getting a little notice, but don't get too complacent because on the third violation, there will be consequences. And the maximum fine was raised with a thousand dollars for, from 150, so that ought to get people's attention for cars, $500 for operating a motorcycle with altered exhaust systems.

So, when people get their vehicles inspected every year, there's going to be a question and there's a test they're going to find out whether or not this occurred. That will be the ultimate way that we'll be able to get full compliance. And while they're there, if that's the case, then the person, the entity, the business doing the inspection should remedy that right there or they will get a penalty and the owner will get a penalty as well.

I believe this is going to be a major step toward the little issues that the annoyances that don't have to be there because life is tough, life is hard enough and we can find a problem as small as it may seem to other people, but affects your sense of wellbeing and the wellbeing of your family. Then it should be risen up to the level of attention to our senators and our legislature who believed in this cause, passed this bill, and now I have the privilege as your governor to sign into law to make this become a reality. I thank everyone for what you did to bring us here today. And I look forward to sign this very shortly.