Bill Text: NY S01266 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Expands the scope of management and operations audits of gas and electric corporations conducted by the public service commission; requires copies of such audits to be provided to the governor and various legislative leaders.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [S01266 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S01266-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1266
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 11, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sen. GIANARIS -- 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 the management
          and operations audits of certain utilities
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision 19 of section 66 of
     2  the public service law, as amended by section 4 of part X of chapter  57
     3  of the laws of 2013, are amended to read as follows:
     4    (a)  The  commission  shall  have  power to provide for management and
     5  operations audits of gas corporations and  electric  corporations.  Such
     6  audits  shall be performed at such times as the commission shall direct,
     7  but an audit shall be performed at least once every  [five  years]  year
     8  for  combination  gas and electric corporations, as well as for straight
     9  gas corporations having annual gross revenues in excess of  two  hundred
    10  million dollars.  When any such corporation also operates a steam corpo-
    11  ration  pursuant to article four-A of this chapter, the commission shall
    12  provide for a management and operations audit of the  steam  corporation
    13  in  the  time  and  manner  specified  in  this section. The audit shall
    14  include, but not be  limited  to,  an  investigation  of  the  company's
    15  construction  program,  planning [in relation], security and maintenance
    16  operations as they relate to the needs of  its  customers  for  reliable
    17  service,  an  evaluation  of the efficiency of the company's operations,
    18  recommendations with respect to same, and the timing with respect to the
    19  implementation of such recommendations.  The audit shall  include  inde-
    20  pendent verification of the information provided by the corporation. The
    21  commission  shall  have  discretion to have such audits performed by its
    22  staff, or by independent auditors.    Upon  completion,  copies  of  the
    23  audits  shall  be provided to the governor, speaker of the assembly, the
    24  temporary president of the senate,  the  chair  of  the  senate  finance
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04469-01-9
        S. 1266                             2
     1  committee, the chair of the assembly ways and means committee, the chair
     2  of  the assembly energy committee and the chair of the senate energy and
     3  telecommunications committee.
     4    In  every  case  in  which  the  commission  chooses to have the audit
     5  provided for in this subdivision or pursuant to subdivision fourteen  of
     6  section sixty-five of this article performed by independent auditors, it
     7  shall  have authority to select the auditors, and to require the company
     8  being audited to enter into a contract with the auditors  providing  for
     9  their  payment  by the company. Such contract shall provide further that
    10  the auditors shall work for and under the direction  of  the  commission
    11  according  to  such  terms as the commission may determine are necessary
    12  and reasonable.
    13    (c) Upon the application of a gas or electric corporation for a  major
    14  change in rates as defined in subdivision twelve of this section or of a
    15  steam  corporation for a major change in rates as defined in subdivision
    16  ten of section eighty of this chapter, the commission shall review  that
    17  corporation's  compliance  with  the directions and recommendations made
    18  previously by the commission, as a result of the most recently completed
    19  management and operations audit.  The commission shall  incorporate  the
    20  findings of such review in its opinion or order, and such findings shall
    21  be enforceable by the commission.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    23  it shall have become a law. Provided, that the public service commission
    24  is  immediately  authorized  and  directed  to take any and all actions,
    25  including but not limited to the promulgation of  any  necessary  rules,
    26  necessary to fully implement the provisions of this act on its effective
    27  date.