2010 New York Code
PBS - Public Service
Article 1 - (1 - 26) THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE
5 - Jurisdiction, powers and duties of public service commission.

§ 5. Jurisdiction, powers and duties of public service commission.  1.
  The  jurisdiction,  supervision, powers and duties of the public service
  commission shall extend under this chapter:
    b. To the manufacture, conveying, transportation, sale or distribution
  of gas (natural or manufactured or mixture of both) and electricity  for
  light,  heat  or  power, to gas plants and to electric plants and to the
  persons or corporations owning, leasing or operating the same.
    c. To the manufacture, holding, distribution,  transmission,  sale  or
  furnishing  of  steam  for  heat  or  power,  to steam plants and to the
  persons or corporations owning, leasing or operating the same.
    d. To every telephone line which lies wholly within the state and that
  part within the state of New York of every  telephone  line  which  lies
  partly  within  and  partly  without  the  state  and  to the persons or
  corporations owning, leasing or operating any such telephone line.
    e. To every telegraph line which lies wholly within the state and that
  part within the state of New York of every  telegraph  line  which  lies
  partly  within  and  partly  without  the  state  and  to the persons or
  corporations owning, leasing or operating any such telegraph line.
    f. To the furnishing or distribution of water for domestic, commercial
  or public uses and to water systems and to the persons  or  corporations
  owning, leasing or operating the same.
    g.  To every stock yard within the state and to the stock yard company
  owning, leasing or operating the same, to the same extent and in respect
  to the same objects and purposes as  such  jurisdiction  extends,  under
  this  chapter,  to  depots,  freight  houses  and shipping stations of a
  common carrier, including the duty of such stock yard company to  submit
  reports  and  be  subjected  to  investigation  as  if  it were a common
  carrier, and the powers and duties of such commission to fix charges and
  make and enforce orders relating to adequate service by such company.
    h. A corporation or person owning or holding a majority of  the  stock
  of  a  common carrier, gas corporation or electrical corporation subject
  to the jurisdiction of the public service commission shall be subject to
  the supervision of the public  service  commission  in  respect  of  the
  relations  between  such  common  carrier, gas corporation or electrical
  corporation and such owners or  holders  of  a  majority  of  the  stock
  thereof  in  so  far  as  such relations arise from or by reason of such
  ownership or holding of stock thereof or the receipt or holding  of  any
  money  or  property thereof or from or by reason of any contract between
  them; and in respect of such relations shall in like manner and  to  the
  same  extent  as  such  common  carrier,  gas  corporation or electrical
  corporation  be  subject  to  examination  of  accounts,   records   and
  memoranda,  and shall furnish such reports and information as the public
  service commission shall from time to time direct and require, and shall
  be subject to like penalties for default therein.
    2. The commission shall encourage all persons and corporations subject
  to its jurisdiction to formulate  and  carry  out  long-range  programs,
  individually  or  cooperatively,  for  the  performance  of their public
  service responsibilities with economy,  efficiency,  and  care  for  the
  public   safety,  the  preservation  of  environmental  values  and  the
  conservation of natural resources.
    3. Application of the provisions of this chapter to one-way paging  or
  two-way  mobile  radio  telephone  service  with  the  exception of such
  services provided by means of cellular radio communication is  suspended
  unless  the commission, no sooner than one year after the effective date
  of this subdivision, makes a determination, after  notice  and  hearing,
  that  regulation  of  such services should be reinstituted to the extent
  found necessary to protect the public interest  because  of  a  lack  of
  effective competition.

4.  Upon  finding  that  it  is  in  the public interest to do so, the
  commission may exempt from any or all of the provisions of this chapter,
  for such period of time as  it  deems  appropriate,  an  association  of
  homeowners  owning  and  operating  any  water  plant or water-works and
  distributing water only to customers having an interest and voice in its
  operation.
    5.  The  commission  shall  develop  a  plan  to  maximize  the use of
  telecommuting to conserve energy otherwise used by the personnel of  the
  department  in commuting to their assigned workplace. Within one year of
  the effective date of this subdivision, the commission  shall  submit  a
  report to the governor and the legislature on the impact of such plan to
  include,  but  not  be  limited  to,  energy  conservation, air quality,
  workforce acceptance, office costs and potential cost savings.
    6. a. Application of  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  to  cellular
  telephone  services  is  suspended unless the commission, no sooner than
  one  year  after  the  effective  date  of  this  subdivision,  makes  a
  determination,   after  notice  and  hearing,  that  suspension  of  the
  application of the provisions of this chapter shall cease to the  extent
  found necessary to protect the public interest.
    b.  For  the  purpose  of  determining  whether a cellular provider is
  subject to taxation under section one hundred eighty-six-a  of  the  tax
  law  on  a gross income or gross operating income basis, during a period
  of suspension prescribed pursuant to this section,  the  tax  status  of
  such  provider  shall  be determined on the day previous to the day such
  suspension commenced and such status shall continue during the period of
  such suspension.