Bill Text: NY A01444 | 2021-2022 | 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 17-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A01444 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A01444-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1444 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 11, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, ABINANTI, BENEDETTO, COLTON, CUSICK, DINOWITZ, ENGLEBRIGHT, GALEF, GOTTFRIED, GUNTHER, MAGNARELLI, McDONOUGH, MONTESANO, PERRY, RODRI- GUEZ, 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 17 to read as follows: 3 17. (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; 20 (5) explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures, 21 equipment and common practices; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01254-01-1A. 1444 2 1 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 2 tigations; 3 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 4 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and 5 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 6 (b) No telecommunication corporation shall close a call center or 7 other facility providing the customer assistance set forth in paragraph 8 (a) of this subdivision or relocate such customer assistance to another 9 area of this state or outside of this state without notice and hearing 10 before the commission. However, at no time shall a telecommunication 11 corporation permanently transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any 12 call center described above to another area of this state or outside of 13 the state and a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment 14 contract that governs permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs 15 shall supersede the .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 16 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 17 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 18 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 19 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month, this section shall 20 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 21 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 22 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 23 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 24 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 25 section shall apply. 26 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 394-f 27 to read as follows: 28 § 394-f. Cable company call centers. (a) Every cable corporation and 29 their subsidiaries furnishing traditional landline telephone service, 30 fiber optic service, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), data circuits, 31 cable or internet services shall provide call center service assistance 32 including, but not limited to operator services, directory assistance 33 bureaus and call completion services for the following: 34 (1) determining customer financial responsibility; 35 (2) taking requests for new or additional services, including, but not 36 limited to, emergency service, completing assistance with dialing, using 37 calling cards, connecting collect calls, busy line verification or relay 38 centers for the hearing impaired, providing requested local and national 39 telephone numbers, reverse number searches and taking requests for and 40 completing the publishing and non-publishing of a telephone number, and 41 providing assistance to payphone customers; 42 (3) determining deposit required or billing rate; 43 (4) preparing installation and repair service orders and obtaining 44 access to subscriber's premises; 45 (5) explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures, 46 equipment and common practices; 47 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 48 tigations; 49 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 50 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and 51 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 52 (b) No cable corporation shall close a call center or other facility 53 providing the customer assistance set forth in subdivision (a) of this 54 section or relocate such customer assistance to another area of New York 55 state or outside of this state without notice and hearing before the 56 commission. However, at no time shall a cable corporation permanentlyA. 1444 3 1 transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any call center described 2 above to another area of this state or outside of the state and a valid 3 collective bargaining agreement or employment contract that governs 4 permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs shall supersede the 5 .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 6 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 7 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 8 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 9 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month this section shall 10 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 11 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 12 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 13 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 14 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 15 section shall apply. 16 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 17 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 18 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 19 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 20 on or before such effective date.
