Bill Text: NY A00455 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "NY broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act" to provide for oversight of the resiliency, public safety and quality of broadband and voice over internet protocol service.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-2)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-12-16 - enacting clause stricken [A00455 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A00455-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 455 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 9, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, RAMOS, WALLACE, FAHY, THIELE, STERN, KELLES, JEAN-PIERRE, JACOBSON, LUNSFORD, McMAHON, BURKE, OTIS, GANDOL- FO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Author- ities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to enacting the "NY broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "NY broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act". 3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares 4 that access to high-speed broadband service is a necessity and essential 5 to participation in the economy, education and civic life. Closing gaps 6 in broadband availability is a matter of deployment, affordability and 7 ensuring networks are resilient, high quality and facilitate public 8 safety. Because voice over internet protocol has replaced traditional 9 voice telephone service for a large segment of the population, ensuring 10 its reliability is in the public interest and consistent with public 11 safety goals. State regulators require unambiguous authority and a clear 12 mandate to establish and enforce appropriate oversight and regulation of 13 broadband and voice over internet protocol service in order to meet the 14 state's goals of universal, high-quality and affordable access. 15 § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new article 12 to 16 read as follows: 17 ARTICLE 12 18 BROADBAND RESILIENCY, PUBLIC SAFETY AND QUALITY ACT 19 Section 250. Definitions. 20 251. Oversight of broadband and VoIP service. 21 § 250. Definitions. For the purposes of this article the following 22 terms shall have the following meanings: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02746-01-3A. 455 2 1 1. "Broadband service" shall mean a mass-market retail service that 2 provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or 3 substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that 4 are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications 5 service, but shall not include dial-up service. 6 2. "Internet service provider" shall mean any person, business or 7 organization qualified to do business in this state that provides indi- 8 viduals, corporations or other entities with the ability to connect to 9 the internet with a broadband service. 10 3. "Voice over Internet Protocol" or "VoIP" shall mean an intercon- 11 nected voice over internet protocol service that: 12 (a) Enables real-time, two-way voice communications; 13 (b) Requires a broadband connection from the user's location; 14 (c) Requires internet protocol-compatible customer premises equipment; 15 and 16 (d) Permits users to receive calls that originate on the public 17 switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched 18 telephone network. 19 § 251. Oversight of broadband and VoIP service. 1. The public service 20 commission shall be authorized to exercise oversight regarding broadband 21 and VoIP service. 22 2. The public service commission shall promulgate rules and regu- 23 lations necessary to implement effective oversight of broadband and VoIP 24 service, including but not limited to the following: 25 (a) Ensuring the resiliency and reliability of broadband infrastruc- 26 ture and requiring internet service providers to submit information 27 related to network reliability. 28 (b) Ensuring the public safety and adequacy of networks by exercising 29 oversight of internet service providers' emergency preparedness and 30 plans for post-emergency network restoration, including establishing 31 minimum power back-up requirements and requiring all internet service 32 providers to maintain networks sufficiently to ensure reliable and safe 33 communications services. 34 (c) Requiring internet service providers to report data on the pricing 35 and adoption of VoIP and broadband service. 36 3. The public service commission shall conduct evaluations and audits 37 of facilities and infrastructure used to provide high-speed internet 38 service and evaluate facilities and infrastructure in regards to areas 39 of public safety, resiliency, broadband and anything else the commission 40 deems relevant to achieving goals of resiliency, quality and public 41 safety in broadband service, as well as the overall goals of universal 42 access and affordability of broadband service. 43 4. The public service commission shall report annually to the legisla- 44 ture on progress towards achieving goals of resiliency, public safety 45 and quality of broadband and VoIP service. 46 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
