Senate bill · S9980 (2025-26)
Reduces electric corporations' response time for securing downed wires
New York State Senate
Same as A10763, the matching bill in the Assembly.
Summary
Requires each utility to take appropriate safety precautions regarding electrical hazards, including developing plans to promptly de-energize downed wires within two hours of notification of the location of such downed wires from a municipal emergency responder and promptly secure such wires within six hours in the case of events that are not considered emergencies.
Summary from NY Open Legislation. How we handle summaries
Amends the Public Service Law.
From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 21, 2026. About our data
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Purpose, from the sponsor's memo
Requires Utility Companies to respond to calls for downed wires in a timely manner to protect the valuable time of our volunteer first responders who also respond to such calls.
Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)
Where it stands
Passed one of the two chambers; it still needs the other.
- Introduced
- In committee
- Up for a vote
- Passed one chamber
- Passed
- Enacted
Committee
Energy · New York State Assembly
Also referred to Energy And Telecommunications · New York State Senate, Rules · New York State Assembly, Rules · New York State Senate.
Cosponsors
Chris Burdick, Christopher Eachus and 7 more on Agora
Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.
Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab)- Democratic8
- Republican1
This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.
Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.
The sponsor's argument
Why James Skoufis says this is needed
Requiring fire departments to respond to incidents of downed wires is a misappropriation of our volunteer first responders time and energy. In upstate New York, the vast majority of Fire Fighters are volunteers. Volunteer fire companies don't have the jurisdiction to fix downed elec- trical wire but when they are called to the scene, they often spend several hours waiting for the utility companies to arrive to the scene before they can leave. Utility companies will often have volunteer fire- men waiting on a scene for hours upon hours, for a problem they cannot fix. We cannot continue to waste our volunteers' time responding to a problem that they aren't equipped to help with and save their time for when our communities really need them.
This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.
Full history
- Jun 1, 2026
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO SENATE
NY Assembly
- Jun 1, 2026
Passed a chamber
PASSED ASSEMBLY
NY Assembly
- Jun 1, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO RULES
NY Senate
- May 20, 2026
Reported out of committee
REPORTED
NY Assembly
- May 20, 2026
Rules Report CAL.158
RULES REPORT CAL.158
NY Assembly
Show full history (5 earlier events)Show less history
- May 19, 2026
Amend (t) and Recommit to Energy and Telecommunications
AMEND (T) AND RECOMMIT TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NY Senate
- May 11, 2026
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
NY Assembly
- May 8, 2026
Amend (t) and Recommit to Energy
AMEND (T) AND RECOMMIT TO ENERGY
NY Assembly
- Apr 20, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NY Senate
- Apr 1, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO ENERGY
NY Assembly