Bill Text: NY A03730 | 2023-2024 | 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: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A03730 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A03730-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3730 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 7, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI -- 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; 22 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 23 tigations; 24 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 25 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07663-01-3A. 3730 2 1 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 2 (b) No telecommunication corporation shall close a call center or 3 other facility providing the customer assistance set forth in paragraph 4 (a) of this subdivision or relocate such customer assistance to another 5 area of this state or outside of this state without notice and hearing 6 before the commission. However, at no time shall a telecommunication 7 corporation permanently transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any 8 call center described above to another area of this state or outside of 9 the state and a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment 10 contract that governs permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs 11 shall supersede the .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 12 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 13 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 14 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 15 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month, this section shall 16 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 17 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 18 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 19 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 20 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 21 section shall apply. 22 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 394-f 23 to read as follows: 24 § 394-f. Cable company call centers. (a) Every cable corporation and 25 their subsidiaries furnishing traditional landline telephone service, 26 fiber optic service, voice over internet protocol (VOIP), data circuits, 27 cable or internet services shall provide call center service assistance 28 including, but not limited to operator services, directory assistance 29 bureaus and call completion services for the following: 30 (1) determining customer financial responsibility; 31 (2) taking requests for new or additional services, including, but not 32 limited to, emergency service, completing assistance with dialing, using 33 calling cards, connecting collect calls, busy line verification or relay 34 centers for the hearing impaired, providing requested local and national 35 telephone numbers, reverse number searches and taking requests for and 36 completing the publishing and non-publishing of a telephone number, and 37 providing assistance to payphone customers; 38 (3) determining deposit required or billing rate; 39 (4) preparing installation and repair service orders and obtaining 40 access to subscriber's premises; 41 (5) explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures, 42 equipment and common practices; 43 (6) investigating trouble order forms and initiating high bill inves- 44 tigations; 45 (7) handling payment and other credit arrangements such as obtaining 46 deposits, financial statements and payment plans; and 47 (8) aiding customers with internal assistance programs. 48 (b) No cable corporation shall close a call center or other facility 49 providing the customer assistance set forth in subdivision (a) of this 50 section or relocate such customer assistance to another area of New York 51 state or outside of this state without notice and hearing before the 52 commission. However, at no time shall a cable corporation permanently 53 transfer more than .7 percent of jobs from any call center described 54 above to another area of this state or outside of the state and a valid 55 collective bargaining agreement or employment contract that governsA. 3730 3 1 permanent transfer percentages of call center jobs shall supersede the 2 .7 percent job transfer rate described above. 3 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to the collection of debt whereby 4 utility company policy such debt is directed to a collection agency or 5 similar service companies or where the attendance of call center employ- 6 ees is less than ninety percent in any given month this section shall 7 not apply for the following month. Attendance for this section shall be 8 defined when an employee is expected to report to work as scheduled. If 9 a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract defines attend- 10 ance then that shall supersede the definition above. If attendance falls 11 below ninety percent as a direct result of the corporation then this 12 section shall apply. 13 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 14 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 15 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 16 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 17 on or before such effective date.
