State Senator to Renew Push for NY Broadband Rules
State legislation to assign broadband jurisdiction to the New York Public Service Commission will return this January, said sponsor Sen. Sean Ryan (D) in an interview. With more authority provided by S-5117 and A-7412, the PSC could take a fresh look at broadband prices after a federal court threw out the state’s law to require $15 monthly internet for low-income customers (see 2106110064), he said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The bills would clarify that the PSC may regulate broadband “much like they regulate the other monopolies” like water and electricity utilities, Ryan said. S-5117 has been stuck in the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee since February, and the Assembly version by Nily Rozic (D) stalled after clearing the Corporations Committee in late May (see 2105250046). By the time the legislators introduced their bills, legislative “priorities were already set” for 2021, Ryan said. He has spoken to leadership about the bill, he said: “I am endeavoring to make it a priority bill.” Ryan and Rozic will host community roundtables next week in the Adirondacks about poor internet availability there, he said.
“We would discuss any bill with the members of our majority conference,” emailed a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) Wednesday. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D), Senate Telecom Committee Chairman Kevin Parker (D), Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene Weinstein (D) and Rozic didn’t comment.
The PSC probably would fare better regulating broadband prices than former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who through this year’s contested affordability law “willy-nilly set an arbitrary rate for certain individuals in New York state,” Ryan said. The agency should “make it just like the electricity companies, where if in fact you want to increase your rates, you have to go through a rate increase process” overseen by the commission, he said. “It would be a comprehensive approach, rather than just setting the rate for people of certain incomes.” The bill doesn’t address net neutrality, which Ryan supports, he said.
Ryan met several times virtually with the telecom industry about the bill this year, he said: Lobbyists defended their service and argued that the market was working to prevent problems. Ironically, the internet connection froze during several of those Zoom meetings, said Ryan: “This idea [that] if we kept our hands off ... they would grow into a responsible, responsive industry has failed. We have broad swaths of New York state with very little internet coverage,” urban areas with no competition and “generally unreliable services. The internet companies have been saying forever [to] let the federal government act, but at the same time they’re in Washington lobbying to prevent the federal government from acting.”
Charter Communications “has long been committed to increasing connectivity by addressing broadband access, adoption, and affordability barriers,” a spokesperson emailed. “From hundreds of millions in private support invested to deploy internet access to reach unserved New Yorkers to continually upgrading our network to provide fast and reliable broadband products at great value to addressing affordability and adoption barriers, facts on the ground clearly demonstrate Charter’s ongoing commitment to increasing connectivity across New York State.”
AARP agrees broadband is an essential service that should be in the PSC’s domain, so the seniors advocacy group will support Ryan and Rozic’s bill next session, the association's New York legislative representative Bill Ferris told us. Hochul showed interest in access and affordability issues when she launched a broadband mapping survey earlier this week as part of a PSC study (see 2109270046), he said. “This bill is a great fit.” Industry’s lawsuit against the state’s affordable broadband law disappointed AARP, Ferris said. “The Ryan-Rozic bill certainly could address that issue” by enabling the commission to address prices, he said.
The New York Public Interest Research Group “supports regulating internet providers like other utilities to ensure affordability and access,” emailed General Counsel Russ Haven. Ryan and Rozic’s bills recognize broadband access “is as important as phone and electric service and the state needs full oversight authority over this indispensable service. While the telecom industry will look to torpedo the bill when it passes, it's a fight well worth having.”