S 5703: Requires utility companies to report on utility poles and remove unused utility poles in the public right-of-way.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5703 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 28, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- 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 requiring utility companies to report on utility poles and remove unused utility poles in the public right-of-way 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 2 119-e to read as follows: 3 § 119-e. Utility poles. 1. The commission shall require each regulated 4 utility company to submit a utility pole location report that includes 5 each utility pole owned by such utility that exists within a public 6 right-of-way. The report shall specifically designate owned poles 7 currently in use by a utility or utilities within a public right-of-way 8 and specifically designate owned poles on such list that are no longer 9 in use by such utility or any other utility within a public right-of- 10 way. Such report shall also include information relating to any owned 11 utility poles that have been removed from the public right-of-way by 12 such utility since the previous year's utility pole location report and 13 any owned utility poles that have not been removed by such utility from 14 the public right-of-way since such previous year's report. 15 2. Such regulated utility company shall develop a plan for the removal 16 of any utility pole that is no longer in use by any utility within the 17 public right-of-way and such pole shall be removed no later than one 18 year from the date from which it was identified as no longer in use by a 19 utility pole location report. The commissioner shall be authorized to 20 impose a fine for the failure of a utility to remove an owned utility 21 pole no longer in use by such utility or any other utility of up to ten 22 thousand dollars per pole per year. A utility company may appeal such 23 fine in a form and manner determined by the commission. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03177-01-5 
 S. 5703 2 1 3. Such reports shall be provided to the commission, the governor, the 2 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the 3 chairperson of the senate investigations and government operations 4 committee, the chairperson of the energy and telecommunications commit- 5 tee, and the chairperson of the assembly energy committee on or before 6 December first of each year. 7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.