Senate Bill S8964

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to establishing strict liability for certain violations by public utility companies, corporations, or persons and the officers thereof

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Sep 04, 2020	referred to rules

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2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§25 & 25-a, Pub Serv L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S135

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes strict liability for certain violations by public utility companies, corporations, or persons and the officers thereof; removes requirement that violations be committed knowingly.

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8964

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public service law, in relation to establishing
liability for certain violations by public utility companies, corpo-
rations, or persons and the officers thereof

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Imposes strict liability on public utility companies and their officers
for violations of the public service law.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 2, 3, and 4 of section 25 of the public
service law to provide for strict liability for violations of the public
service law, or orders adopted under authority of the public service
law, by public utility companies and their officers.

Section 2 amends subdivision 6 of section 25-a of the public service law
to provide for strict liability for failures to comply with provisions
the public service law by officers of combination electric and gas
companies.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New Yorkers endured sustained outages of utility and communications
services in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias. Frustratingly, such prob-
lems were evident in past storms such as Sandy, Quinn, and Riley.  This
indicates that these companies neglected to remedy deficiencies illus-
trated by past storms as necessary to ensure adequate service in the
future.

This pattern of continued sustained outages following major storms
despite evidence of shortcomings in utility and communication company
operations suggests that companies like Con Ed are not incentivized to
improve their operational readiness. Because there is limited competi-
tion in these industries, customers often cannot switch electric or
cable service providers to avoid a repeat of the problems. Accordingly,
it falls to the state to enact fundamental changes and deliver penalties
significant enough to ensure that those changes are made. History
suggests that these utilities consider current penalty structures as
part of doing business. By increasing liability, we can increase incen-
tives to improve.

The current mens rea liability test for many violations of public
service law is whether the actor "knowingly" caused the violation.  This
bill imposes strict liability on the companies and their officers for
failures to comply with the law by deleting the instances of "knowingly"
with respect to those actors. The bill leaves in place the knowingly
standard for agents and employees so that the burden of this change is
targeting at top level decision-makers and does not fall on the workers.
This change will demand a higher level of attention to the law on the
part of these utilities and their officers, and allows the state to more

easily impose meaningful penalties when these utilities fail to adhere
to the law.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8964
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             September 4, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAYER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the public service  law,  in  relation  to  establishing
   liability  for  certain violations by public utility companies, corpo-
   rations, or persons and the officers thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 of section 25 of the public service
 law,  subdivision 2 and paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 and paragraph (a)
 of subdivision 4 as amended by chapter 375  of  the  laws  of  1986  and
 subdivisions  3  and 4 as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 1980,  are
 amended to read as follows:
   2. Any public utility company, corporation or  person  and  the  offi-
 cers[,  agents and employees] thereof that [knowingly] fails or neglects
 to obey or comply, OR ANY AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES  THEREOF  THAT  KNOWINGLY
 FAIL  OR  NEGLECT TO OBEY OR COMPLY, with a provision of this chapter or
 an order adopted under authority of this chapter so  long  as  the  same
 shall  be in force, shall forfeit to the people of the state of New York
 a sum not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars  constituting  a  civil
 penalty  for  each  and  every  offense and, in the case of a continuing
 violation, each day shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense.
   3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this  section,
 any  such  public  utility  company, corporation or person and the offi-
 cers[, agents and employees] thereof that [knowingly] fails or  neglects
 to  obey  or  comply, OR ANY AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES THEREOF THAT KNOWINGLY
 FAIL OR NEGLECT TO OBEY OR COMPLY, with a provision of this chapter,  or
 an  order  or  regulation  adopted  under the authority of this chapter,
 adopted specifically for the protection of human safety,  including  but
 not limited to the commission's code of gas safety regulations shall, if
 it  is determined by the commission that such safety violation caused or
 constituted a contributing factor in bringing about a death or  personal
 injury, forfeit to the state of New York a sum not to exceed the greater
 of:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD17184-02-0

 S. 8964                             2
 
   (a) two hundred and fifty thousand dollars constituting a civil penal-
 ty  for  each separate and distinct offense; provided, however, that for
 purposes of this paragraph each day of a continuing violation shall  not
 be deemed a separate and distinct offense. The total period of a contin-
 uing  violation, as well as every distinct violation, shall be similarly
 treated as a separate and distinct offense for purposes  of  this  para-
 graph; or
   (b)  the  maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with subdivision
 two of this section.
   4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one or  two  of  this
 section,  a  public utility company, corporation or person and the offi-
 cers[, agents and employees] thereof that [knowingly] fails or  neglects
 to  obey  or  comply, OR ANY AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES THEREOF THAT KNOWINGLY
 FAIL OR NEGLECT TO OBEY OR COMPLY, with a provision of this chapter,  or
 an order or regulation adopted under authority of this chapter, designed
 to  protect  the overall reliability and continuity of electric service,
 shall forfeit to the state of New York a sum not to exceed  the  greater
 of:
   (a)  five  hundred  thousand  dollars constituting a civil penalty for
 each separate and distinct offense; provided, however, that for purposes
 of this paragraph each day of a continuing violation shall not be deemed
 a separate and distinct  offense.  The  total  period  of  a  continuing
 violation,  as  well  as  every  distinct  violation, shall be similarly
 treated as a separate and distinct offense for purposes  of  this  para-
 graph; or
   (b)  the  maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with subdivision
 two of this section.
   § 2. Subdivision 6 of section 25-a of the public service law, as added
 by section 2 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended  to
 read as follows:
   6.  Any officer of any combination gas and electric corporation deter-
 mined by the commission to have violated the provisions  of  subdivision
 three,  four,  or  five  of this section, and who [knowingly] violates a
 provision of this chapter, regulation or an order adopted under authori-
 ty of this chapter so long as the same shall be in force shall forfeit a
 sum not to exceed one hundred  thousand  dollars  constituting  a  civil
 penalty  for  each  and  every  offense and, in the case of a continuing
 violation, each day shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S8964

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

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co-Sponsors

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Shelley B. Mayer

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.

John E. Brooks

Leroy Comrie

Pete Harckham

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S8964 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments