Bill Text: NY S08084 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Directs the Long Island Power Authority to establish a program for the undergrounding of utility facilities within its service area.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-26 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [S08084 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S08084-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
            S. 8084                                                 A. 10223
                SENATE - ASSEMBLY
                                     March 26, 2018
                                       ___________
        IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered print-
          ed,  and  when  printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and
          Telecommunications
        IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once  and  referred
          to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
        AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to directing the
          Long  Island  Power  Authority  to  establish a program for the under-
          grounding of utility facilities within its service area
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1. Section 1020-f of the public authorities law is amended by
     2  adding two new subdivisions (ii) and (jj) to read as follows:
     3    (ii) Any town in the service area is hereby authorized to establish an
     4  underground utility improvement district  utilizing  the  provisions  of
     5  articles  twelve  and  twelve-A of the town law for the establishment of
     6  special districts. Such underground utility improvement  district  shall
     7  be  established  and administered pursuant to the provisions of articles
     8  twelve and twelve-A of the town law and the provisions of this  section.
     9  To the extent that the provisions of this section shall in any way be in
    10  conflict  with  articles  twelve  and  twelve-A  of  the  town  law, the
    11  provisions of this section shall be controlling.  After  an  underground
    12  utility  improvement  district  has been established, the town board may
    13  take such action as may be required to adopt  plans  and  specifications
    14  and  enter  into  a contract or contracts, or take such other actions as
    15  may be required, for the conversion of existing overhead utility facili-
    16  ties to underground  facilities  and  construction  of  new  underground
    17  facilities for utilities.
    18    (jj)  For  the  years  two thousand nineteen, two thousand twenty, two
    19  thousand twenty-one, two thousand twenty-two and  two  thousand  twenty-
    20  three, the capital budget of the authority shall include funding for the
    21  conversion  of  existing  overhead  utility  transmission  facilities to
    22  underground utility transmission facilities or the construction  of  new
    23  underground  utility  transmission facilities. The annual amount of such
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14059-01-7
        S. 8084                             2                           A. 10223
     1  funding shall be in an amount equal to at  least  five  percent  of  the
     2  total  capital  budget  for  the  year  two  thousand  eighteen. For the
     3  purposes of this section, "utility transmission facility" shall mean  an
     4  electric  transmission  line  in  the service area, including associated
     5  equipment.
     6    1. Where a town in the service area of the authority  has  established
     7  an underground utility improvement district pursuant to subdivision (ii)
     8  of  this section, and such town wishes to contract for the conversion of
     9  existing overhead utility transmission facilities to underground utility
    10  transmission facilities or the construction of new  underground  utility
    11  transmission  facilities,  said town shall be entitled to a contribution
    12  by the authority to the district of at least eighty percent of the  cost
    13  of  the  construction  of  the  utility  transmission  facility  to  the
    14  district, pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision.  "Cost"  shall
    15  be  the  total  cost  of  constructing the utility transmission facility
    16  underground. Any state or federal aid to construct such  utility  trans-
    17  mission facility shall be subtracted from the cost.
    18    2. To be eligible for such payment, the town shall first hold a public
    19  hearing to determine whether the project is in the general public inter-
    20  est.  In  determining  general public interest, the town shall consider:
    21  (i) whether the project will  avoid  or  eliminate  an  unusually  heavy
    22  concentration  of  overhead  electric public utility facilities, or (ii)
    23  whether the street or roadway is extensively used by the general  public
    24  and  carries  a  heavy volume of pedestrian or vehicle traffic, or (iii)
    25  the street or roadway passes through an area which is of general  public
    26  interest   based   upon  open  space  resources,  farmland  preservation
    27  resources,  historic  preservation  resources,   park   and   recreation
    28  resources, or scenic or aesthetic resources.
    29    3.  The authority shall pay at least eighty percent of the cost of the
    30  improvements, if the town finds that any of the three standards in para-
    31  graph two of this subdivision are met.
    32    4. Any determination under this subdivision shall be subject to review
    33  pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.
    34    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.