New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) attacked the State Public...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) attacked the State Public Service Commission and offered his own telecom recommendations in his State of the State speech Wednesday. Much of his speech and the extensive text (http://xrl.us/bn99bj) that accompanied it dealt with…
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how his state handled Superstorm Sandy. Improvements are needed in the “procedures and practices” surrounding telecom infrastructure, his State of the State document said, slamming the “the PSC’s lack of rigorous oversight of utility providers in the state.” He gathered what was called the Moreland Commission to analyze the issue in November, and it heard testimony from telecom providers and others, and released its initial findings earlier this week (http://xrl.us/bn99cv). The PSC requires “new oversight and enforcement mechanisms,” the commission concluded, and recommended it be “statutorily authorized to levy administrative penalties against each utility for violations of PSC orders and regulations or upon a finding that such utility has failed to provide safe and adequate service under a ‘reasonable business’ standard.” “We will review the Commission’s report and work to address its concerns regarding oversight in order to protect customers,” a PSC spokesman told us. Cuomo also criticized distracted driving practices in which drivers read and sent text messages at the wheel and praised a state law against it: “The law has been an overwhelming success, increasing four-fold the number of tickets given for texting-while-driving violations in the one year since the new measures took effect; bringing the number from more than 4,500 to nearly 21,000 violations per year.” However, texting should be a communications tool during emergencies like Sandy, he said: “We will develop a program that will allow mass text messages to be sent to all wireless phones in a chosen area -- whether a single cell tower or a set of towns that have been struck by a severe weather event.” New York will also “explore establishing a one-stop disaster recovery communications hub that is integrated with social networking, mobile messaging and chat tools -- using all available means to reach New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. Cell networks need to be “strengthened,” he added.