NY State Senate Bill 2019-S8906

Senate Bill S8906

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Requires the mobilization of the New York guard for certain power outages and requires power outage restoration training for members of the New York guard

download bill text pdf

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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Aug 12, 2020	referred to rules

2019-S8906 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Add §73, Pub Serv L; add §171, Mil L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S4016

2019-S8906 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the mobilization of the New York guard for certain power outages; requires power outage restoration training for members of the New York guard.

2019-S8906 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8906

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring the
mobilization of the New York guard for certain power outages; and to
amend the military law, in relation to requiring power outage restora-
tion training for members of the New York guard

 
PURPOSE:

Requires the mobilization of the New York Guard to respond to power
outages lasting for more than 24 hours and affecting in excess of 25,000
people. Requires training of the New York Guard in power outage restora-
tion techniques, including direct restoration, grid maintenance and tree
removal.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Ads a new section 73 to the Public Service Law which requires the mobi-

lization of the New York Guard to respond to power outages lasting for
more than 24 hours and affecting in excess of 25,000 people. Adds a new
section 171 to the Military Law that requires training of the New York
Guard in power outage restoration techniques, including direct restora-
tion, grid maintenance and tree removal.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On August 4th, Tropical Storm Isaias hit New York with heavy rain,
tornadoes, and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour. The storm left
hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without power across New York City,
Long Island, Westchester and the Hudson Valley, including over 420,000
customers in the PSEG-LI service territory, 260,000 customers in the Con
Edison service territory, and 90,000 customers in the NYSEG service
territory. The storm also disrupted the regions' telephone, cable, and
internet services; services that are particularly essential for New
Yorker's during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outages and service
disruptions lasted for multiple days, and in some areas of the State
many homes and businesses are still waiting to be reconnected.

In an effort to better serve communities who are left without power for
days or weeks at a time, we must mandate the deployment of the New York
Guard during major outages and, moreover train them so they can engage
in direct power restoration, grid maintenance and tree removal.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S8906 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8906
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              August 12, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- 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  requiring  the
   mobilization  of  the New York guard for certain power outages; and to
   amend the military law, in relation to requiring power outage restora-
   tion training for members of the New York guard

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The public service law is amended by adding a new section
 73 to read as follows:
   § 73. POWER OUTAGES; MOBILIZATION OF NEW YORK GUARD. 1.  THE  GOVERNOR
 IS  DIRECTED TO MOBILIZE THE NEW YORK GUARD WHEN ANY POWER OUTAGE OCCURS
 IN THIS STATE WHERE A TOTAL OF TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND  OR  MORE  CUSTOMERS
 REMAIN  WITHOUT POWER IN ANY GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF THIS STATE AFTER TWENTY-
 FOUR HOURS FROM THE TIME THE POWER OUTAGE FIRST OCCURRED.
   2. THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE OF THE MOBILIZATION OF THE NEW YORK GUARD
 PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL BE TO  RESTORE  AND  AID  PUBLIC  UTILITY
 CORPORATIONS  IN  THIS  STATE  IN  THE RESTORATION OF POWER TO HOMES AND
 BUSINESSES. SUCH MOBILIZATION SHALL INITIALLY CONCENTRATE ON THE  RESTO-
 RATION  OF  POWER  IN  AREAS WITH A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF OVERHEAD POWER
 LINES AS DETERMINED BY THE GOVERNOR.
   3. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL REQUIRE THAT THE COST OF TRAINING MEMBERS OF
 THE NEW YORK GUARD TO CARRY OUT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION  PURSUANT
 TO  SECTION ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE OF THE MILITARY LAW BE BORNE COLLEC-
 TIVELY BY PUBLIC UTILITY CORPORATIONS IN THIS STATE.
   § 2. The military law is amended by adding a new section 171  to  read
 as follows:
   §  171.  TRAINING;  RESTORATION  OF POWER. EACH MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK
 GUARD SHALL BE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE TRAINING IN THE RESTORATION OF POWER
 TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES, ELECTRICAL  POWER  GRID  MAINTENANCE  AND  TREE
 REMOVAL FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING OUT THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION SEVEN-
 TY-THREE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE LAW.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD17104-01-0

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.