Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Bill to let utilities share "life‑support" customer addresses for emergency planning raises privacy questions
Summary
Representative Margaret Dry told the committee HB 15‑77 would allow utilities to share limited customer data (addresses or flags) with municipal emergency authorities for welfare checks during outages; Eversource and the Department of Energy were neutral but urged guardrails on data type, consent and security to avoid HIPAA and right‑to‑know pitfalls.
Representative Margaret Dry (Plainfield) introduced HB 15‑77 and framed it as a public‑safety measure developed after meetings on utility customer assistance programs. She told the committee utilities maintain "life‑support" lists for customers who rely on electricity for medical devices and that municipalities do not currently have reliable access to that information in emergencies. "It was a good thing that we did," she said of past local rescues, arguing an address‑only list or a welfare‑check flag could help responders find people during multi‑day outages.
Committee members pressed on privacy, HIPAA concerns and whether the bill should…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
