NY State Senate Bill 2019-S9081

Senate Bill S9081

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to civil penalties on certain public utility companies, corporations or persons and the officers, agents and employees thereof

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules 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
Nov 04, 2020	referred to rules

2019-S9081 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10995
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§25 & 25-a, Pub Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S3698, A2469
2023-2024: S1662, A1741

2019-S9081 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Increases civil penalties on certain combination gas and electric corporations that fail to comply with the public service law.

2019-S9081 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S9081

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public service law, in relation to civil penalties
on certain public utility companies, corporations or persons and the
officers, agents and employees thereof

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to increase the maximum (dollar-amount)
penalties for utility companies, corporations (including combination gas
and electric corporations) or persons, officers, agents and employees
thereof that knowingly fail or neglect to obey or comply with a
provision of public service law, regulation or order adopted by the
commission.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivisions two, three and four of section twenty-

five of public service law (titled: "Penalties") to, for the benefit of
people of the state of New York:
-increase the maximum civil penalty from one-hundred thousand dollars to
two million dollars that a utility company shall forfeit for knowingly
failing or neglecting to obey or comply with a provision of public
service law, regulation or order adopted by the commission, whereby each
day shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense;
-increase the maximum civil penalty from two-hundred and fifty thousand
dollars to five million dollars that a utility company shall forfeit for
knowingly failing or neglecting to obey or comply with public service
law, regulation or order adopted by the commission that was adopted
specifically for the protection of human safety and such violation
caused or constituted a contributing factor in bringing about a death or
personal injury; and
-increase the maximum civil penalty from five-hundred thousand dollars
to ten million dollars that a utility company shall forfeit for knowing-
ly failing or neglecting to obey or comply with public service law,
regulation or order adopted by the commission that was designed to
protect the overall reliability and continuity of electric service.

Section two amends subdivisions three, four and five of section twenty-
five-a of public service law (titled: "Combination gas and electric
corporations; administrative sanctions; recovery of penalties") to, for
the benefit of ratepayers:
-increase the maximum (dollar-amount) civil penalty from one-hundred''
thousand dollars to two million dollars that a combination gas and elec-
tric corporation shall forfeit for failing to reasonably comply with a
provision of public service law, regulation or order adopted by the
commission, as shown by a preponderance of evidence, whereby each day
shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense;
-increase the maximum (dollar-amount) civil penalty from two-hundred and
fifty thousand dollars to five million dollars that a combination gas
and electric corporation shall forfeit for failing to reasonably comply
with a provision of public service law, regulation or order adopted by
the commission that was adopted specifically for the protection of human
safety and such violation caused or constituted a contributing factor in
bringing about a death or personal injury or damage to real property in

excess of fifty thousand dollars, as shown by a preponderance of
evidence; and
-increase the maximum (dollar-amount) civil penalty from five-hundred
thousand dollars to ten million dollars that a combination gas and elec-
tric corporation shall forfeit for failing to reasonably comply with a
provision of public service law, regulation or order adopted by the
commission that was designed to protect the overall reliability and
continuity of electric service, including but not limited to the resto-
ration of electric service following a major outage, as shown by a
preponderance of evidence.

Section three sets forth the effective date. JUSTIFICATION:  Tropical
Storm Isaias resulted in power outages for hundreds of thousands of New
Yorkers across New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland, the
Hudson Valley, and other areas of the state. Service disruptions lasted
multiple days and impacted a number of utilities' operations and facili-
ties. Time and again utilities fail to improve their response to an
outage and at the time of this bill being introduced the public service
commission is conducting an investigation into the failings of relevant
utilities to adhere to provisions of public service law, regulation or
commission order regarding the response to Isais. The current maximum
(dollar-amount) penalty is far too low and a drop-in-the bucket for many
utility companies. This bill would increase such penalties for the vari-
ous tiers of violations for the benefit of ratepayers or the people of
the state of New York, pursuant to public service law.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S9081 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9081
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             November 4, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- 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  civil  penalties
   on  certain  public utility companies, corporations or persons and the
   officers, agents and employees thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 2, paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 and paragraph
 (a) of subdivision 4 of section 25 the public service law, as amended by
 chapter 375 of the laws of 1986, are amended to read as follows:
   2. Any public utility company, corporation or person and the officers,
 agents and employees thereof that knowingly fails or neglects 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] TWO MILLION 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.
   (a) [two hundred and fifty thousand] FIVE MILLION dollars constituting
 a civil penalty for each separate and distinct offense; provided, howev-
 er, 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 paragraph; or
   (a)  [five  hundred thousand] TEN MILLION 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 paragraph; or
   § 2. Subdivision 3, subparagraph (i) of paragraph (b) of subdivision 4
 and paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 25-a of the public service
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD17201-01-0

 S. 9081                             2
 
 law,  as added by section 2 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013,
 are amended to read as follows:
   3.  Any  combination  gas  and  electric corporation determined by the
 commission to have failed to reasonably comply as shown by a  preponder-
 ance  of the evidence with a provision of this chapter, regulation or an
 order adopted under authority of this chapter so long as the same  shall
 be  in  force  shall  forfeit  a  sum  not exceeding the greater of [one
 hundred thousand] TWO MILLION  dollars  or  two  one-hundredths  of  one
 percent  of  the annual intrastate gross operating revenue of the corpo-
 ration, not including taxes paid to and revenues collected on behalf  of
 government  entities,  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.
   (i)  [two  hundred  fifty thousand] FIVE MILLION dollars or three one-
 hundredths of one percent  of  the  annual  intrastate  gross  operating
 revenue  of  the  corporation,  not including taxes paid to and revenues
 collected on  behalf  of  government  entities,  whichever  is  greater,
 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 paragraph; or
   (a) [five hundred thousand] TEN MILLION dollars or four one-hundredths
 of one percent of the annual intrastate gross operating revenue  of  the
 corporation,  not  including  taxes  paid  to  and revenues collected on
 behalf of government entities,  whichever  is  greater,  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 paragraph; or
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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