New York Senate Bill S10082

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 4/27/26
• Refer: 4/27/26

Caption

Prohibits foreign ownership of gas and electric corporations; requires that any foreign owned gas and electric corporations execute a divestiture plan; regulates executive compensation by limiting annual bonuses and incentive-based compensation for executive officers.

Summary

S10082 would amend the Public Service Law to bar gas corporations, electric corporations, and combination gas-and-electric corporations from being owned, controlled, or operated, directly or indirectly, by a foreign government, a foreign state-owned enterprise, or a foreign corporation formed outside the United States. Any utility already in violation would have 36 months from the effective date to submit and carry out a commission-approved divestiture plan that transfers controlling interest to a domestic entity while avoiding service disruptions and cost shifts to ratepayers. The bill also adds new limits on executive compensation for gas and electric utilities. If a utility implements a rate increase that exceeds the prior year’s CPI-U increase, it could not recover the cost of executive bonuses or incentive-based compensation from ratepayers, and the Public Service Commission could not approve rates that include those costs. In addition, total annual bonus or incentive-based compensation for any executive officer would be capped at 25% of the median annual salary of the utility’s full-time equivalent non-executive employees residing in New York, with any excess paid only from shareholder profits and excluded from being treated as a just and reasonable ratemaking expense.

Impact

This bill would create a new ownership restriction in state utility regulation and give the Public Service Commission authority to oversee divestiture plans for affected gas and electric utilities. It would also alter ratemaking rules by limiting when executive bonuses can be passed through to customers and by setting a statutory cap on incentive compensation tied to employee wages, thereby affecting utility shareholders, executives, ratepayers, and regulated utility operations in New York.

Sentiment

No committee transcript or vote record is available, so there is no documented debate or recorded legislative sentiment in the provided materials. Based on the bill text and caption, the measure appears designed to appeal to concerns about foreign control of critical infrastructure and utility executive pay, suggesting a generally restrictive, consumer-protection-oriented approach.

Contention

The main points of contention are likely to be the prohibition on foreign ownership of utilities and the compensation restrictions for executives. Supporters would likely emphasize energy security, domestic control of essential infrastructure, and protection of ratepayers from paying for executive bonuses after above-inflation rate hikes. Opponents may argue that the foreign-ownership ban could disrupt investment, complicate existing ownership structures, and raise constitutional or commerce-related concerns, while the compensation limits could interfere with corporate governance and utility recruitment.