File #: Int 1800-2019    Version: * Name: Requiring the office of emergency management to establish protocols for the response to loss of essential services.
Type: Introduction Status: Filed (End of Session)
Committee: Committee on Fire and Emergency Management
On agenda: 11/14/2019
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the office of emergency management to establish protocols for the response to loss of essential services
Sponsors: Farah N. Louis, Kalman Yeger , Margaret S. Chin
Council Member Sponsors: 3
Summary: The bill would require the Office of Emergency Management to establish and public protocols to guide the Office’s emergency response following an outage of an essential service, such as heat, electricity, gas, or hot water.
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1800, 2. Int. No. 1800, 3. November 14, 2019 - Stated Meeting Agenda with Links to Files, 4. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 11-14-19, 5. Minutes of the Stated Meeting - November 14, 2019

Int. No. 1800

 

By Council Members Louis, Yeger and Chin

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the office of emergency management to establish protocols for the response to loss of essential services

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Title 30 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 30-116 to read as follows:

§ 30-116. Emergency response to loss of essential services. a. Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

Emergency response. The term “emergency response” means actions conducted or coordinated by the office aimed at providing relief for individuals impacted by essential service outages and facilitating the restoration of all essential services.

 Essential service.  The term “essential service” means a service delivered to an inhabited structure that is necessary for the safe habitation of such structure, including heat, gas, hot water, and electricity.

Essential service outage. The term “essential service outage” means the failure to deliver an essential service to the majority of residents in an inhabited structure for a period longer than six consecutive hours.

Inhabited structure. The term “inhabited structure” means any structure where individuals sleep overnight.

b. The office shall establish protocols to guide its responses to essential service outages. Such protocols shall include but need not be limited to:

1. Factors considered in determining the timing and type of emergency response to be conducted by the office, including but not limited to:

(a) the number of individuals residing within an inhabited structure affected by an essential service outage;

(b) the cause and expected duration of an essential service outage;

(c) weather conditions at the time of an essential service outage; and

(d) the presence of vulnerable populations at the location of an inhabited structure affected by an essential service outage necessitating an expedited emergency response.   

2.  Types of emergency response actions required by protocol established pursuant to subdivision b of this section and the circumstances warranting such responses, including but not limited to:

(a) conducting an in-person assessment of conditions at the location of an essential service outage;

(b) implementing or coordinating actions aimed at providing individuals habituating such location with relief from adverse conditions; and

(c) facilitating the restoration of all essential services.  

c. The protocols established pursuant to subdivision b shall be stored permanently on the office’s website and updated when office practice or policies changes.

§ 2.   This local law takes effect immediately after it becomes law.

 

 

JDK

LS #9970

10/15/19