New York VTL397 - No Exemption for Hams
There NEVER was an exemption for amateur licensees. Everyone conveniently drops the word "exclusively" out of the quote of the law. Go look it up. See that word "exclusively" near the end? Read it in context. Nothing in 397 is meant to prohibit a licensed ham from operating mobile with gear capable of transmitting and receiving EXCLUSIVELY on ham frequencies. This was added in back in the day when ham gear mostly was crystal controlled, and receivers were limited to ham bands, to assure that the police would not be confused by the law's intent only to ban listening in on police frequencies. Later, two big technological issues caused problems. The first was VFO, allowing for tuners to receive wide band. Once the FCC type-approved gear with wide band receivers a real issue arose as to the right of states and local communities to prohibit their use by licensed amateurs simply because of the wide band capability. Since the FCC was created in the 1930s Congress has expressed a clear intent that federal law preempt the field of telecommunications, meaning that states and localitiies may not enact conflicting laws. The second and much more recent tech issue is the advent of the scanner app. Unfortunately there is no precedent on either issue-yet. You don;t want to be first. Bottom line - in New York no one, licensed hams included, may operate a scanner in a car. By the way, I believe that some communities may issue "permits" but I'm not aware that VTL 397 - or any other state law - allows for it, so I don't know upon what legal basis those municipalities are acting.
