Bill Text: NY A00065 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs telecommunications and cable corporations to provide call center service assistance from centers located within the state and such corporations' service areas; includes a list of what services must be provided.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A00065 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A00065-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 65 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, ABINANTI, ARROYO, BENEDETTO, COLTON, CRESPO, CROUCH, CUSICK, DINOWITZ, ENGLEBRIGHT, GALEF, GOTTFRIED, GUNTHER, JAFFEE, MAGNARELLI, McDONOUGH, MONTESANO, PERRY, RAIA, RODRIGUEZ, L. ROSENTHAL, THIELE, ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the public service law and the general business law, in relation to telecommunications and cable call centers The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 65 of the public service law is amended by adding a 2 new subdivision 16 to read as follows: 3 16. (a) Every telecommunication corporation and their subsidiaries 4 furnishing traditional landline telephone service, fiber optic service, 5 voice over internet protocol (VOIP), data circuits, cable or internet 6 services shall provide call center service assistance including, but not 7 limited to operator services, directory assistance bureaus and call 8 completion services for the following: 9 (1) determining customer financial responsibility; 10 (2) taking requests for new or additional services, including, but not 11 limited to, emergency service, completing assistance with dialing, using 12 calling cards, connecting collect calls, busy line verification or relay 13 centers for the hearing impaired, providing requested local and national 14 telephone numbers, reverse number searches and taking requests for and 15 completing the publishing and non-publishing of a telephone number, and 16 providing assistance to payphone customers; 17 (3) determining deposit required or billing rate; 18 (4) preparing installation and repair service orders and obtaining 19 access to subscriber's premises; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01987-01-9A. 65 2 1 (5) explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures, 2 equipment and common practices; 3 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 4 tigations; 5 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 6 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and 7 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 8 (b) No telecommunication corporation shall close a call center or 9 other facility providing the customer assistance set forth in paragraph 10 (a) of this subdivision or relocate such customer assistance to another 11 area of this state or outside of this state without notice and hearing 12 before the commission. However, at no time shall a telecommunication 13 corporation permanently transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any 14 call center described above to another area of this state or outside of 15 the state and a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment 16 contract that governs permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs 17 shall supersede the .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 18 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 19 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 20 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 21 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month, this section shall 22 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 23 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 24 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 25 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 26 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 27 section shall apply. 28 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 394-f 29 to read as follows: 30 § 394-f. Cable company call centers. (a) Every cable corporation and 31 their subsidiaries furnishing traditional landline telephone service, 32 fiber optic service, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), data circuits, 33 cable or internet services shall provide call center service assistance 34 including, but not limited to operator services, directory assistance 35 bureaus and call completion services for the following: 36 (1) determining customer financial responsibility; 37 (2) taking requests for new or additional services, including, but not 38 limited to, emergency service, completing assistance with dialing, using 39 calling cards, connecting collect calls, busy line verification or relay 40 centers for the hearing impaired, providing requested local and national 41 telephone numbers, reverse number searches and taking requests for and 42 completing the publishing and non-publishing of a telephone number, and 43 providing assistance to payphone customers; 44 (3) determining deposit required or billing rate; 45 (4) preparing installation and repair service orders and obtaining 46 access to subscriber's premises; 47 (5) explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures, 48 equipment and common practices; 49 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 50 tigations; 51 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 52 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and 53 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 54 (b) No cable corporation shall close a call center or other facility 55 providing the customer assistance set forth in subdivision (a) of this 56 section or relocate such customer assistance to another area of New YorkA. 65 3 1 state or outside of this state without notice and hearing before the 2 commission. However, at no time shall a cable corporation permanently 3 transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any call center described 4 above to another area of this state or outside of the state and a valid 5 collective bargaining agreement or employment contract that governs 6 permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs shall supersede the 7 .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 8 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 9 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 10 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 11 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month this section shall 12 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 13 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 14 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 15 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 16 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 17 section shall apply. 18 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 19 have become a law; provided, however, that the public service commission 20 is immediately authorized and directed to take any and all actions, 21 including but not limited to the promulgation of any rules or regu- 22 lations necessary to implement the provisions of this act on such effec- 23 tive date.
