Directs the public service commission to require all telephone corporations to provide free directory information or assistance to blind persons meeting specified visual acuity standards and also to certain other physically handicapped persons who are certified as meeting certain specified criteria; requires that the public service commission establish procedures by which free access to directory information and assistance is automatically registered as exempt from all charges; makes related provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3573
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 11, 2019
___________
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 mandating direc-
tory information or assistance for certain eligible persons at no cost
to such persons
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 92-i to read as follows:
3 § 92-i. Directory assistance for eligible persons. 1. The commission
4 shall require all telephone corporations to provide directory informa-
5 tion or assistance to eligible persons, as provided in subdivision two
6 of this section, at no cost to such persons. The commission shall
7 establish procedures by which free access to such information or assist-
8 ance for such persons is automatically registered as exempt from all
9 charges.
10 2. The following persons are eligible for service pursuant to this
11 section:
12 (a) Blind persons whose visual acuity, as determined by competent
13 authority, is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses,
14 or whose widest diameter of visual field subtends angular distance no
15 greater than twenty degrees.
16 (b) Other physically handicapped persons are eligible as follows:
17 (i) Persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless of
18 optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as preventing
19 the reading of standard printed material.
20 (ii) Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or
21 unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limita-
22 tions.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09606-01-9
S. 3573 2
1 (iii) Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading
2 disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity
3 to prevent their reading of printed material in a normal manner.
4 (c) Certifying authority:
5 (i) In cases of blindness, visual impairment, or physical limitations,
6 "competent authority" is defined to include doctors of medicine; doctors
7 of osteopathy; ophthalmologists; optometrists; registered nurses; thera-
8 pists; and professional staff of hospitals, institutions, and public or
9 private welfare agencies (e.g., social workers, caseworkers, counselors,
10 rehabilitation teachers, and superintendents).
11 (ii) In the case of reading disability from organic dysfunction,
12 competent authority is defined as doctors of medicine and doctors of
13 osteopathy who may consult with colleagues in associated disciplines.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
15 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amend-
16 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
17 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
18 completed on or before such effective date.
