S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                   1721
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 13, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on  Energy  and  Telecommuni-
   cations
 
 AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to certain penalties
 
   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 "utility penalty adjustment".
   §  2. Subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 of section 25 of the public service law,
 subdivisions 3 and 4 as added by chapter 665 of the  laws  of  1980  and
 subdivision  2,  paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  3 and paragraph (a) of
 subdivision 4 as amended by chapter 375 of the laws of 1986, are amended
 and a new subdivision 4-b is added 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]
 TWO hundred SEVENTY-FIVE thousand 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.
   3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this  section,
 any such 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 or regulation
 adopted under the authority of this chapter,  adopted  specifically  for
 the protection of human safety, including but not limited to the commis-
 sion's  code of gas safety regulations shall, if it is determined by the
 commission that such safety violation caused or constituted a contribut-
 ing factor in bringing about a death or personal injury, forfeit to  the
 state of New York a sum not to exceed the greater of:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00506-01-5
              

 S. 1721                             2
 
   (a)  [two]  SIX  hundred  [and  fifty]  SEVENTY-FIVE  thousand 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
   (b)  the  maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with subdivision
 two of this section.
   4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one or  two  of  this
 section,  a  public utility company, corporation or person and the offi-
 cers, agents and employees thereof that knowingly fails or  neglects  to
 obey  or  comply  with a provision of this chapter, or an order or regu-
 lation adopted under authority of this chapter, designed to protect  the
 overall reliability and continuity of electric service, shall forfeit to
 the state of New York a sum not to exceed the greater of:
   (a) [five] ONE MILLION THREE hundred FIFTY thousand dollars constitut-
 ing  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
   (b)  the  maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with subdivision
 two of this section.
   4-B. ON JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SEVEN, AND ON EACH  FOLLOW-
 ING  JANUARY  FIRST,  THE PENALTIES SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISIONS TWO, THREE
 AND FOUR OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE INCREASED BY THE SUM OF  THE  RATE  OF
 INFLATION,  IF GREATER THAN ZERO, AS MEASURED BY THE CHANGE IN THE AVER-
 AGE FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS THROUGH JUNE OF THE CURRENT YEAR,  DIVIDED  BY
 THE  AVERAGE FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS THROUGH JUNE OF THE PRECEDING YEAR IN
 THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.
   § 3. Subdivisions 3, 4, 5 and 6 of section  25-a of the public service
 law, as added by section 2 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws of  2013,
 are  amended  and  two new subdivisions 7-a and 7-b are added 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]  FIVE
 hundred  FIFTY  thousand dollars or two 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, constituting a civil penalty for each and every  offense  and,
 in  the case of a continuing violation, each day shall be deemed a sepa-
 rate and distinct offense.
   4.  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  subdivision  three  of  this
 section, any such combination gas and electric corporation determined by
 the  commission  to have failed to reasonably comply with a provision of
 this chapter, or an order or regulation adopted under the  authority  of
 this  chapter  specifically  for  the  protection  of  human  safety  or
 prevention of significant damage to real property,  including,  but  not
 limited to, the commission's code of gas safety regulations shall, if it
 is  determined by the commission by a preponderance of the evidence that
 such safety violation caused or constituted  a  contributing  factor  in
 S. 1721                             3
 
 bringing  about:   (a) a death or personal injury; or (b) damage to real
 property in excess of fifty thousand  dollars,  forfeit  a  sum  not  to
 exceed the greater of:
   (i)  [two]  SIX hundred [fifty] SEVENTY-FIVE thousand 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
   (ii) the maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with  subdivision
 three of this section.
   5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision three or four of this
 section,  a  combination  gas and electric corporation determined by the
 commission to have failed to reasonably comply by a preponderance of the
 evidence with a provision of this chapter, or  an  order  or  regulation
 adopted under authority of this chapter, designed to protect the overall
 reliability and continuity of electric service, including but not limit-
 ed to the restoration of electric service following a major outage event
 or emergency, shall forfeit a sum not to exceed the greater of:
   (a)  [five]  ONE  MILLION THREE hundred FIFTY thousand 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
   (b)  the  maximum forfeiture determined in accordance with subdivision
 three of this section.
   6. Any officer of any combination gas and electric corporation  deter-
 mined  by  the commission to have violated the provisions of subdivision
 three, four, or five of this  section,  and  who  knowingly  violates  a
 provision of this chapter, regulation or an order adopted under authori-
 ty of this chapter so long as the same shall be in force shall forfeit a
 sum  not  to  exceed  [one]  TWO  hundred  SEVENTY-FIVE thousand 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.
   7-A.  NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION THREE, FOUR, FIVE,
 OR SIX OF THIS SECTION,  A  COMBINATION  GAS  AND  ELECTRIC  CORPORATION
 DETERMINED  BY  THE  COMMISSION  TO  HAVE  FAILED TO SATISFY ITS DUTY OF
 CANDOR WITH THE PUBLIC SHALL FORFEIT A SUM NOT TO  EXCEED  FIVE  HUNDRED
 THOUSAND 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.
   7-B. ON JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SEVEN, AND ON EACH  FOLLOW-
 ING  JANUARY FIRST, THE PENALTIES SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISIONS THREE, FOUR,
 FIVE, SIX AND SEVEN-A OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE INCREASED BY THE  SUM  OF
 THE  RATE  OF INFLATION, IF GREATER THAN ZERO, AS MEASURED BY THE CHANGE
 IN THE AVERAGE FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS THROUGH JUNE OF THE  CURRENT  YEAR,
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 DIVIDED BY THE AVERAGE FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS THROUGH JUNE OF THE PRECED-
 ING YEAR IN THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.
   §  4. This   act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.