Requires every utility corporation or municipality who sends an emergency notice to customers to make available and provide such notice in English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, French, Urdu, Russian, Yiddish, Korean, Bangla, Polish, Italian, Hindi and Tagalog.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2258--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 16, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. COMRIE, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Tele-
communications -- recommitted to the Committee on Energy and Telecom-
munications in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring emer-
gency notices be provided to customers in certain languages
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading of section 44 of the public service
2 law, as added by chapter 713 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 Utility bills[;] and informational notices.
5 § 2. Section 44 of the public service law is amended by adding a new
6 subdivision 8 to read as follows:
7 8. (a) The commission shall require every utility corporation or muni-
8 cipality who sends an emergency notice to its customers to make avail-
9 able and provide such emergency notice in English and any other prevail-
10 ing language as the commission deems necessary which shall include, but
11 not be limited to, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic,
12 French, Urdu, Russian, Yiddish, Korean, Bangla, Polish, Italian, Hindi
13 and Tagalog.
14 (b) These emergency notices shall be available and provided in a paper
15 format or transmitted electronically through call, text, and/or email.
16 (c) For the purposes of this subdivision, "emergency notices" shall
17 include termination notices, outage notices, and any work notices that
18 would impact services.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04959-02-6
