Dan Clark is reporting for Capitol Confidential high-speed internet advocates and lawmakers are pushing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to sign legislation that could lead to significantly improved internet access statewide. If Cuomo fails to act on the bill by the end of January, it will quietly disappear in the form of a pocket veto, forcing lawmakers to approve it again for his consideration. The Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act would require the Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulatory agency, to study the availability, affordability, and reliability of high-speed internet in all parts of the state. The measure was sponsored last year by state Sen. Sean Ryan, a Democrat from Buffalo, while he was serving as a member of the state Assembly. The bill passed with nearly unanimous support in both chambers. “Good public policy relies on good data,” Ryan said in an interview. “So, once we have a sense of who doesn’t have access, then we can look to improve that access.” According to the latest report from the Federal Communications Commission, 98.8 percent of the state has access to broadband internet. That is defined in the report as a connection with speeds of at least 25 megabits per second. But that data, according to Ryan, is compiled in a way that likely misrepresents how much of the state actually has access to broadband. Ryan’s bill would require the PSC to report the number of residences considered to have access to broadband, and those that do not. It would also, for the first time, require the agency to study the reliability and affordability of high-speed internet in New York, making the PSC actually examine whether internet service companies are providing consistent speeds as advertised. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.