Enacts the "NY broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act" to provide for oversight of the resiliency, public safety and quality of broadband and voice over internet protocol service.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9271
IN SENATE
February 20, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. C. RYAN -- 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 enacting the "NY
broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "NY broadband resiliency, public safety and quality act".
3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares
4 that access to high-speed broadband service is a necessity and essential
5 to participation in the economy, education and civic life. Closing gaps
6 in broadband availability is a matter of deployment, affordability and
7 ensuring networks are resilient, high quality and facilitate public
8 safety. Because voice over internet protocol has replaced traditional
9 voice telephone service for a large segment of the population, ensuring
10 its reliability is in the public interest and consistent with public
11 safety goals. State regulators require unambiguous authority and a clear
12 mandate to establish and enforce appropriate oversight and regulation of
13 broadband and voice over internet protocol service in order to meet the
14 state's goals of universal, high-quality and affordable access.
15 § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new article 12 to
16 read as follows:
17 ARTICLE 12
18 BROADBAND RESILIENCY, PUBLIC SAFETY AND QUALITY ACT
19 Section 250. Definitions.
20 251. Oversight of broadband and VoIP service.
21 § 250. Definitions. For the purposes of this article the following
22 terms shall have the following meanings:
23 1. "Broadband service" shall mean a mass-market retail service that
24 provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or
25 substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that
26 are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications
27 service, but shall not include dial-up service.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14926-01-6
S. 9271 2
1 2. "Internet service provider" shall mean any person, business or
2 organization qualified to do business in this state that provides indi-
3 viduals, corporations or other entities with the ability to connect to
4 the internet with a broadband service.
5 3. "Voice over Internet Protocol" or "VoIP" shall mean an intercon-
6 nected voice over internet protocol service that:
7 (a) Enables real-time, two-way voice communications;
8 (b) Requires a broadband connection from the user's location;
9 (c) Requires internet protocol-compatible customer premises equipment;
10 and
11 (d) Permits users to receive calls that originate on the public
12 switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched
13 telephone network.
14 § 251. Oversight of broadband and VoIP service. 1. The public service
15 commission shall be authorized to exercise oversight regarding broadband
16 and VoIP service.
17 2. The public service commission shall promulgate rules and regu-
18 lations necessary to implement effective oversight of broadband and VoIP
19 service, including but not limited to the following:
20 (a) Ensuring the resiliency and reliability of broadband infrastruc-
21 ture and requiring internet service providers to submit information
22 related to network reliability, including outage reporting.
23 (b) Ensuring the public safety and adequacy of networks by exercising
24 oversight of internet service providers' emergency preparedness and
25 plans for post-emergency network restoration, including establishing
26 minimum power back-up requirements and requiring all internet service
27 providers to maintain networks sufficiently to ensure reliable and safe
28 communications services.
29 (c) Requiring internet service providers to report data on the pricing
30 and adoption of VoIP and broadband service.
31 3. The public service commission shall conduct evaluations and audits
32 of facilities and infrastructure used to provide high-speed internet
33 service and evaluate facilities and infrastructure in regards to areas
34 of public safety, resiliency, broadband and anything else the commission
35 deems relevant to achieving goals of resiliency, quality and public
36 safety in broadband service, as well as the overall goals of universal
37 access and affordability of broadband service.
38 4. The public service commission shall report annually to the legisla-
39 ture on progress towards achieving goals of resiliency, public safety
40 and quality of broadband and VoIP service.
41 § 4. The public service commission shall initiate a proceeding within
42 three months of the effective date of this act to establish minimum
43 network service quality benchmarks including but not limited to stand-
44 ards for the number of days to complete service orders, outage repair
45 standards including a maximum number of hours for service restoration,
46 standards for customer service including time allowed to resolve bill-
47 ing-related inquiries as well as ensuring a clear and timely way for
48 subscribers to reach customer service representatives. Such proceeding
49 shall also determine appropriate reporting and enforcement related to
50 these areas.
51 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
