NY State Senate Bill 2021-S135

Senate Bill S135

2021-2022 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 Energy And Telecommunications 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to energy and telecommunications
Jan 06, 2021	referred to energy and telecommunications

co-Sponsors

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2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Energy And Telecommunications
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§25 & 25-a, Pub Serv L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:: S8964

2021-S135 (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.

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S135

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:

2020: Referred to Rules FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    135
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. MAYER, ADDABBO, BROOKS, COMRIE, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN,
   SALAZAR -- read twice and ordered printed,  and  when  printed  to  be
   committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommunications
 
 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02682-01-1

 S. 135                              2
 
 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:
   (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 S135

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Sponsored By

Shelley B. Mayer

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications Committee

co-Sponsors

Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.

John E. Brooks

Leroy Comrie

Pete Harckham

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S135 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments