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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to investigations and government operations
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S2187
Title of bill
An act to amend the public officers law and the public service law, in relation to trade secrets
Purpose
To limit the ability of a utility company to claim trade secret exemption for documents submitted to the PSC in support of a rate hike and to define the term "trade secret" in the state's FOIL law.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. Amends paragraph (d) of subdivision 2 of section 87 of the public officers law to establish a definition for the term "trade secrets."
Section 2. Adds a new section 114-b to the public service law to establish a presumption that any records submitted by utility companies to the Public Service Commission in connection with any proceeding relating to any rate or charge to be imposed on customers shall be subject to disclosure pursuant to Article 6 of the public officers law (FOIL). This section also establishes a procedure for companies to seek exemption from disclosure for any records that may contain trade secrets or confidential commercial information.
Section 3. Effective date.
Justification
The Public Service Commission (PSC) is responsible for reviewing rate increase requests from utility companies. Often times, however, utility companies will submit incomplete and/or heavily redacted records to the PSC as justification for the increase they're seeking, claiming an exemption for trade secrets or confidential commercial information from disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Law statute. New Yorkers already pay some of the highest utility rates in the country and it's unthinkable that a utility company should be able to increase rates to consumers without providing ample justification for such increase. The ratepayers of the state deserve to know that the rates and charges they pay are fair and reasonable and utility companies should not be able to hide behind trade secret or confidential commercial information protections.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to state.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.