What's happening
This bill requires utility companies to reimburse municipalities or fire companies for guarding downed lines for over one hour.
Why it matters
Shifts financial responsibility. for extended emergency response from local fire departments and municipalities to utility companies, ensuring that local taxpayer funds aren’t disproportionately used for guarding downed utility lines.
Creates an incentive for utility companies to respond more quickly. to downed lines, as delayed responses will result in additional costs they must reimburse, potentially improving public safety and service reliability.
Limits reimbursements to municipalities with professional fire departments. , meaning volunteer fire departments or municipalities without professional fire services may not benefit from this provision, leaving some communities uncovered.
Broadens the definition of "downed lines". to include not only power lines but also telephone and cable lines, ensuring a wider range of incidents are covered and that more types of public hazards are addressed.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Utilities Must Pay Guard Costs
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
- Referred to rules
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6945
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
November 17, 2017
Introduced by Sen. MARCHIONE -- 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 a public utility company to reimburse a municipality or fire company for guarding downed lines for periods of time in excess of one hour
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 119-d to read as follows:
§ 119-d. Reimbursement of municipality or fire company for guarding downed lines. 1. The commission shall adopt and implement rules and regulations requiring each public utility company, which is responsible for responding to downed lines, to reimburse the municipality or fire company, as defined in section one hundred of the general municipal law, for the costs associated with guarding such downed lines for periods in excess of one hour after such utility company has received notice of such downed line and does not have a repair crew at such downed line. For the purposes of this section, the term "downed lines" shall include but not be limited to power, telephone and cable lines.
2. For the purposes of subdivision one of this section, a municipality shall only be entitled to reimbursement if such municipality has a professional municipal fire department.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13785-02-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring a public utility company to reimburse a municipality or fire company for guarding downed lines for periods of time in excess of one hour
Summary of provisions
Section 1 provides the Public Service Commission set forth rules and regulations requiring public service companies to reimburse munici- palities with professional fire departments or volunteer companies for every hour spent guarding a downed utility line after the first hour. This section also defines utility line as including but not limited to a power, telephone, or cable line.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
Justification
During storms, downed utility lines can cause a considerable risk to the community and necessitate supervision. The first response "guard" duty of these lines often falls to emergency services personnel, often times volunteer units. Sometimes, these personnel are responsible for guarding the downed lines for hours at a time until the utility company arrives on the scene. This creates a burden on the resources of the community as a whole.
This bill provides compensation for the emergency service provider by the public utility company for every hour spent guarding a downed line after the first hour. The rate of compensation will be determined by the Public Service Commission. This measure will ensure that our communities are no longer unfairly burdened with what practically constitutes an unfunded mandate, but also provides additional incentive to the public utility company to address downed lines expeditiously.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.