Enacts the "municipal fair acquisition act", providing that in any acquisition by a municipal corporation of infrastructure operated by a public utility company or private energy provider, the appraised value shall be reduced by the value of infrastructure that was financed through customer user fees, ratepayer surcharges, or other non-investor-funded mechanisms as determined by the public service commission.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
9154
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
October 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BURKE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to enacting the
"municipal fair acquisition act"
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "municipal fair acquisition act".
§ 2. Section 362 of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter
838 of the laws of 1945, is amended to read as follows:
§ 362. Financing the cost of public utility service. 1. Any municipal
corporation may finance the cost of such public utility service in whole
or in part by levying taxes in the same manner as taxes are levied
pursuant to law for any permanent improvement by such municipal corpo-
ration, or the same may be financed in whole or in part pursuant to the
local finance law.
2. (A) IN ANY ACQUISITION BY A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF ELECTRIC
GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE CURRENTLY OPER-
ATED BY A PUBLIC UTILITY COMPANY OR PRIVATE ENERGY PROVIDER, THE
APPRAISED VALUE SHALL BE REDUCED BY THE PROPORTIONAL VALUE OF INFRAS-
TRUCTURE THAT WAS FINANCED THROUGH CUSTOMER USER FEES, RATEPAYER
SURCHARGES, OR OTHER NON-INVESTOR-FUNDED MECHANISMS, AS DETERMINED BY
THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
(B) THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION SHALL, UPON REQUEST BY A MUNICIPAL
CORPORATION SEEKING TO ACQUIRE UTILITY ASSETS, DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO
WHICH SUCH ASSETS WERE FINANCED THROUGH CUSTOMER USER FEES, RATEPAYER
SURCHARGES, OR OTHER NON-INVESTOR-FUNDED MECHANISMS, AND SHALL ISSUE A
REPORT IDENTIFYING THE VALUE OF SUCH CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDING A
COMMENSURATE REDUCTION IN THE ACQUISITION PRICE.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13499-02-5
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