Bill Text: NY S05696 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Requires the public service commission to review broadband and fiber optic services within the state and requires the expansion of broadband and fiber optic services.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-6)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-12-28 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S05696 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S05696-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5696

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 13, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  METZGER,  MAY, GALLIVAN, BIAGGI -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Energy and Telecommunications

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  public  service  law, in relation to the public
          service commission reviewing broadband and fiber optic services within
          the state

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

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings.  The  legislature hereby finds and
     2  declares that large portions of the state do not have access  to  broad-
     3  band services, particularly fiber optic service. This has made the tele-
     4  communications  marketplace  less  competitive,  and  has been a partial
     5  cause of deteriorated service for customers and users of regulated tele-
     6  phonic and telecommunications  services.  Without  access  to  broadband
     7  services,  schools,  businesses, families, and healthcare facilities are
     8  not able to access vital technologies. This in turn has had  substantial
     9  negative  economic  and  social impacts, particularly in rural and other
    10  underserved communities.
    11    § 2. The public service law is amended by adding a new  section  224-c
    12  to read as follows:
    13    §  224-c.  Broadband and fiber optic services. 1. The commission shall
    14  determine, within six months of the effective date of this section,  the
    15  status  of  broadband  and  fiber  optic services in New York state. The
    16  commission shall identify communities without access  to  broadband  and
    17  fiber  optic  services,  communities  in which insufficient telecommuni-
    18  cations service has caused social or economic impacts, communities where
    19  local franchises have not been complied with, and communities  in  which
    20  the  commission  believes  such  broadband and/or fiber optic service is
    21  necessary for the successful implementation of  commission  policies  on
    22  competition, affordable, and adequate service.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11628-01-9
        S. 5696                             2

     1    2.  The  commission  shall, within six months of the completion of the
     2  determination of broadband and fiber optic services in  New  York  state
     3  pursuant  to subdivision one of this section, require and set completion
     4  dates for the construction or installation of broadband and fiber  optic
     5  services  by an internet service provider in communities in which broad-
     6  band and fiber optic services are determined to be absent, insufficient,
     7  or inadequate, so as to ensure the availability of broadband  and  fiber
     8  optic services to the greatest number of New York state residents possi-
     9  ble.
    10    §  3.  The article heading of article 11 of the public service law, as
    11  added by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
    12               PROVISIONS RELATING TO CABLE TELEVISION COMPANIES
    13                       AND INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
    14    § 4. Section 212 of the public service law is amended by adding a  new
    15  subdivision 15 to read as follows:
    16    15.  "Internet  service  provider"  shall mean any person, business or
    17  organization qualified to do business in this state that provides  indi-
    18  viduals,  corporations, or other entities with the ability to connect to
    19  the internet.
    20    § 5. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    21  have become a law.