Quote
... does your state( NY I presume) require the copper lines for the elevator phones? I have spoken to the head of the state regulator...

In NY there is no state anything (except taxes). Local fire marshals and building inspectors are the ones who make that call and in all the localities I have worked in they have always required dedicated copper POTS for an elevator phone.

-Hal

CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING: Some comments made by me are known to the State of California to cause irreversible brain damage and serious mental disorders leading to confinement.