Creates a citizen advisory panel consisting of six permanent and three rotating members to prepare a report on any application for certificate of any major electric generating facilities.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1722
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 14, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. GALLIVAN -- 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 creating a citi-
zen advisory panel
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section
2 174 to read as follows:
3 § 174. Citizen advisory panel. 1. A citizen advisory panel is hereby
4 established.
5 2. a. The panel shall consist of six permanent and three rotating
6 members appointed by the chair of the department of public service to
7 four year terms as follows: one permanent member shall be a resident of
8 Long Island; two permanent members shall be residents of the city of New
9 York; three permanent members shall be residents of upstate New York;
10 one rotating member shall be a resident of Long Island; one rotating
11 member shall be a resident of New York city; and one rotating member
12 shall be a resident of upstate New York. For the purposes of this
13 section:
14 i. "Long Island" means the counties of Nassau and Suffolk.
15 ii. "New York city" means the counties of the Bronx, Kings, New York,
16 Queens, and Richmond.
17 iii. "Upstate New York" means all counties not included in subpara-
18 graphs i or ii of this paragraph.
19 b. Each member of the panel shall have been awarded a degree from an
20 accredited four-year college or university or a graduate degree from
21 such college or university or accredited graduate school and shall have
22 had at least five years of experience in one or more of the fields of
23 engineering, science, economics, or business.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02910-01-1
S. 1722 2
1 c. The members of the panel shall, by majority vote, select one of the
2 permanent members to serve as the panel chairperson.
3 d. Vacancies on the panel shall be filled by a majority vote of
4 current members of the panel to serve out the remainder of the term.
5 e. In addition to the requirements of the public officers law, no
6 person shall be eligible to be an appointee to the panel who holds
7 another state or local office. No member of the panel may retain or hold
8 any official relation to, or any securities of an electric utility
9 corporation operating in the state or proposed for operation in the
10 state, any affiliate thereof or any other company, firm, partnership,
11 corporation, association or joint-stock association that may appear
12 before the panel, nor shall either of the appointees have been a direc-
13 tor, officer or, within the previous ten years, an employee thereof.
14 f. Each member of the panel shall receive his or her necessary
15 expenses actually incurred in the discharge of his or her duties.
16 g. Any member of the panel may be removed by the chair of the public
17 service commission for cause after an opportunity to be heard.
18 h. Except as otherwise provided by law, a majority of the panel shall
19 constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business of the panel.
20 3. The rotating member residing in the area where the facility is
21 proposed to be located as defined in paragraph a of subdivision two of
22 this section shall serve as the seventh member on the panel for all
23 actions relating to that proposed facility.
24 4. The board shall provide each member of the panel including the
25 appropriate rotating member of the panel a copy of any preliminary scop-
26 ing statement filed pursuant to section one hundred sixty-three of this
27 article or application for certificate filed pursuant to section one
28 hundred sixty-four of this article.
29 5. The panel shall have a period of thirty days to review any applica-
30 tion for certificate and to request any additional information. Should
31 additional information be required by the panel, the panel may, by
32 majority vote, extend the review period by thirty days. In no case shall
33 the review period exceed sixty days.
34 6. The panel shall have fifteen days to prepare a report on the appli-
35 cation for certificate once the review period is complete. The report
36 shall consist of the following sections:
37 a. Executive summary;
38 b. Project location and description;
39 c. Input from local officials and general public;
40 d. Analysis of economic considerations;
41 e. Analysis of environmental considerations;
42 f. Areas of concern;
43 g. Review of alternatives;
44 h. Recommendation to the board; and
45 i. Any necessary appendices.
46 7. Upon completion of the report on the application for certificate
47 the chair of the panel shall transmit a copy of the report to every
48 member and ad hoc member of the board and shall submit the report as
49 testimony in any hearing on the application for certificate held in
50 accordance with section one hundred sixty-seven of this article.
51 8. Neither the recommendations nor any other work product of the panel
52 shall be construed to have any legal authority whatsoever.
53 9. All final work products are the property of the department.
54 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.