Bill Text: NY A06199 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to requiring covered entities to publicly report on franchise fees, consumer complaints and denials of requests for service; defines covered entities; provides that the department of public service shall investigate allegations against covered entities upon the written request of 25 customers, the chief executive officer of the municipality or the county legislature of the county served.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A06199 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06199-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6199

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      April 3, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring covered
          entities to publicly report on franchise fees, consumer complaints and
          denials of requests for service

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The public service law is amended by adding a new section
     2  28 to read as follows:
     3    § 28. Publication of reports.  1. Within ninety days of the  effective
     4  date  of this section, the department shall direct all covered entities,
     5  to report publicly on its website or websites all franchise fees paid to
     6  the municipality or municipalities served, all consumer complaints,  and
     7  any  denials  of  requests  for  service  from residents of such munici-
     8  palities during the term of  the  current  franchise.  Covered  entities
     9  shall  report  such information without unreasonably exposing consumers'
    10  personally identifiable information in a  manner  that  violates  public
    11  service  law, department practice, or federal law. Such reports shall be
    12  updated quarterly.
    13    2. For the purposes of this section, a covered  entity  shall  include
    14  any broadband, telephone and cable service company:
    15    (a)  with annual gross revenues of at least two hundred fifty thousand
    16  dollars; or
    17    (b) which serves any  municipality  as  an  overbuilder  and  provides
    18  competitive  services  to  an incumbent cable company, except in munici-
    19  palities with a population of one million or more. For the  purposes  of
    20  this  section,  an  "overbuilder"  shall  mean  any  cable provider that
    21  constructs new wireline  facilities  to  end-users  in  the  traditional
    22  service territory of a legacy telephone or cable incumbent.
    23    3.  Upon a written request for an investigation into the covered enti-
    24  ty's compliance with its franchise terms and applicable state and feder-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09907-03-3
        A. 6199                             2

     1  al law, signed by (a) twenty-five or more customers, or  (b)  the  chief
     2  executive  officer of the municipality, or (c) the county legislature of
     3  the county within which the system  is  located,  the  department  shall
     4  conduct  an investigation into such allegations contained in a complaint
     5  letter.
     6    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.