Senator James Sanders Jr. Appointed to the Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)

Senator James Sanders Jr. was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to serve on the Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority.

“I am looking forward to serving on this very important commission, with an eye of examining ways LIPA can provide quality service, and efficient response time to outages during storms and natural disasters, not only on Long Island but to the parts of Queens and New York City where LIPA provides service," Senator Sanders said. 

This commission was created to investigate and report to the legislature on the establishment of a public power model for the operation of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA).  It aims to provide the  legislature with the specific actions, legislation, and timeline necessary to restructure LIPA into a true publicly owned power authority.

Senators James Gaughran was also appointed to the commission. Senator Kevin Thomas will be serving in the capacity of co-chair. 

Enacted as part of the 2022-23 budget, the comission was created to investigate and report to the legislature on the establishment of a public power model for the operation of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), which currently contracts its utility operations to a third-party service provider. This model has failed Long Island ratepayers in multiple ways, including in its responses to Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and Tropical Storm Isaias in 2020.  The new commission aims to provide the legislature with the specific actions, legislation, and timeline necessary to restructure LIPA into a true publicly owned power authority before December 31, 2025.