Bill Text: NY S01453 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relates to extending a moratorium on utility termination of services after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted or expires for a period of 180 days after such expiration or until December 31, 2021 whichever is later.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-11 - SIGNED CHAP.106 [S01453 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01453-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relates to extending a moratorium on utility termination of services after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted or expires for a period of 180 days after such expiration or until December 31, 2021 whichever is later.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-11 - SIGNED CHAP.106 [S01453 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01453-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1453 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 12, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- 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 extending a mora- torium on utility termination of services after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted or expires; and to amend chapter 108 of the laws of 2020 amending the public service law, relating to issuing a morato- rium on utility termination of services during periods of pandemics and/or state of emergencies, in relation to the effectiveness thereof; and providing for the repeal of certain provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section 32 of the public service law, as 2 added by chapter 108 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows: 3 7. For a period of one hundred eighty days after the COVID-19 state of 4 emergency is lifted or expires, or until June thirtieth, two thousand 5 twenty-two, whichever is later, no utility corporation or municipality 6 shall terminate or disconnect the service of a residential customer 7 because of defaulted deferred payment agreements or arrears owed to the 8 utility corporation or municipality when such customer has experienced a 9 change in financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 state of emergen- 10 cy, as defined by the department. The utility corporation or munici- 11 pality shall provide such residential customer with the right to enter 12 into, or restructure, a deferred payment agreement without the require- 13 ment of a down payment, late fees, or penalties, as such is provided for 14 in this article. 15 § 2. Subdivision 9 of section 89-b of the public service law, as added 16 by chapter 108 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a new subdivision 17 10-a is added to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05968-01-1S. 1453 2 1 9. For a period of one hundred eighty days after the COVID-19 state of 2 emergency is lifted or expires, or until June thirtieth, two thousand 3 twenty-two, whichever is later, no water-works corporation shall termi- 4 nate or disconnect the service of a residential customer account because 5 of defaulted deferred payment agreements or arrears owed to the water- 6 works corporation when such customer has experienced a change in finan- 7 cial circumstances due to the COVID-19 state of emergency, as defined by 8 the department. The water-works corporation shall provide such residen- 9 tial customer with the right to enter into, or restructure, a deferred 10 payment without the requirement of a down payment, late fees, or penal- 11 ties, as such is provided for in article two of this chapter. 12 10-a. The public service commission shall have the authority to adju- 13 dicate complaints and conduct investigations for violation of this 14 section in the manner provided by the provisions of this article and 15 shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of this section in 16 accordance with section twenty-six of this chapter. 17 § 3. Subdivision 10 of section 91 of the public service law, as 18 amended by section 1 of part B of chapter 126 of the laws of 2020, is 19 amended to read as follows: 20 10. For a period of one hundred eighty days after the COVID-19 state 21 of emergency is lifted or expires, or until June thirtieth, two thousand 22 twenty-two, whichever is later, no telephone corporation shall terminate 23 or disconnect the service of a residential customer account because of 24 defaulted deferred payment agreements or arrears then owed to the tele- 25 phone corporation when such customer has experienced a change in finan- 26 cial circumstances due to the COVID-19 state of emergency, as defined by 27 the department. The telephone corporation shall provide such residential 28 customer with the right to enter into, or restructure, a deferred 29 payment agreement without the requirement of a down payment, late fees, 30 or penalties. 31 § 4. Subdivision 4 of section 89-l of the public service law, as added 32 by chapter 108 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a new subdivision 5-a 33 is added to read as follows: 34 4. For a period of one hundred eighty days after the COVID-19 state of 35 emergency is lifted or expires, or until June thirtieth, two thousand 36 twenty-two, whichever is later, no municipality shall terminate or 37 discontinue the service of a residential customer because of bill 38 arrears, taxes, or fees owed to the municipality when such customer has 39 experienced a change in financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 40 state of emergency, as defined by the department. The municipality shall 41 provide a residential service customer that has experienced a change in 42 financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 state of emergency with the 43 right to enter into, or restructure, a deferred payment agreement with- 44 out the requirement of a down payment, late fees, or penalties, as such 45 is provided for in article two of this chapter. 46 5-a. The public service commission shall have the authority to adjudi- 47 cate complaints and conduct investigations for violation of this section 48 in the manner provided by the provisions of this article and shall have 49 the authority to enforce the provisions of this section in accordance 50 with section twenty-six of this chapter. 51 § 5. Section 5 of chapter 108 of the laws of 2020 amending the public 52 service law, relating to issuing a moratorium on utility termination of 53 services during periods of pandemics and/or state of emergencies, as 54 amended by section 2 of part B of chapter 126 of the laws of 2020, is 55 amended to read as follows:S. 1453 3 1 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire [March231, 2021] June 30, 2022 when upon such date the provisions of this act 3 shall be deemed repealed. 4 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that: 5 (a) the amendments to subdivision 7 of section 32 of the public 6 service law made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal 7 of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith; 8 (b) the amendments to subdivision 9 of section 89-b of the public 9 service law made by section two of this act shall not affect the repeal 10 of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith; 11 (c) subdivision 10-a of section 89-b of the public service law as 12 added by section two of this act shall be repealed on the same date and 13 in the same manner as chapter 108 of the laws of 2020, as amended; 14 (d) the amendments to subdivision 10 of section 91 of the public 15 service law made by section three of this act shall not affect the 16 repeal of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith; 17 (e) the amendments to subdivision 4 of section 89-l of the public 18 service law made by section four of this act shall not affect the repeal 19 of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith; and 20 (f) subdivision 5-a of section 89-l of the public service law as added 21 by section four of this act shall be repealed on the same date and in 22 the same manner as chapter 108 of the laws of 2020, as amended.
