Assembly Bill A10763A

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10763
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               April 1, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. KAY -- read once and referred to the Committee on
   Energy
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  public service law, in relation to reducing the
   response time for securing downed wires to one hour upon notice
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  Subparagraph  (xi)  of paragraph (a) of subdivision 21 of
 section 66 of the public service law, as separately amended  by  chapter
 743  of  the laws of 2022 and chapter 38 of the laws of 2024, is amended
 to read as follows:
   (xi) appropriate  safety  precautions  regarding  electrical  hazards,
 including  plans  to  PHYSICALLY  RESPOND  TO AND promptly secure downed
 wires within [thirty-six hours] ONE HOUR of notification of the location
 of such downed wires from a municipal emergency [official] RESPONDER;
   § 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 21  of  section  66  of  the  public
 service  law,  as added by section 4 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws
 of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   (c) The commission is authorized to open an  investigation  to  review
 the  performance  of  any  corporation in restoring service or otherwise
 meeting the requirements of the emergency response plan during an  emer-
 gency  event.  If,  after  evidentiary  hearings  or other investigatory
 proceedings, the commission finds that the corporation failed to reason-
 ably implement its emergency response plan or the length of such  corpo-
 ration's  outages  were  materially  longer  than  they would have been,
 because of such corporation's failure to reasonably implement its  emer-
 gency  response  plan,  THE CORPORATION SHALL BE SUBJECT TO A FINE IN AN
 AMOUNT TO BE DETERMINED BY THE DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF
 SECTION TWENTY-FIVE OF THIS CHAPTER, AND the  commission  may  deny  the
 recovery  of  any  part  of the service restoration costs caused by such
 failure, commensurate with the degree and impact of the service  outage;
 provided, however, that nothing herein limits the commission's authority
 to  otherwise  commence  a  proceeding pursuant to sections twenty-four,
 twenty-five and twenty-five-a of this chapter.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD15259-01-6