Bill Text: NY S04449 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires providers of electric, gas, steam, telephone and cable television services to issue standardized bills to residential customers; provides the standards for such bills shall be established by the public service commission.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-08 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [S04449 Detail]

Download: New_York-2013-S04449-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         4449
                              2013-2014 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                     April 1, 2013
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  Sen.  LIBOUS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
         printed to be committed to the Committee on  Energy  and  Telecommuni-
         cations
       AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring provid-
         ers of electric, gas, steam, telephone and cable television service to
         use  a  uniform  format,  and uniform terminologies and definitions in
         bills for residential service; and providing for the  repeal  of  such
         provisions upon the expiration thereof
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
    2  the "uniform utility consumer comparison act".
    3    S  2.  Subdivision 1 of section 44 of the public service law, as added
    4  by chapter 713 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
    5    1. Every utility corporation or municipality shall assure  that  bills
    6  for  service to residential customers adequately explain the charges for
    7  service in clear and understandable form and language. FURTHERMORE, SUCH
    8  BILLS SHALL UTILIZE THE FORMAT, TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS  ESTABLISHED
    9  THEREFOR  BY  THE  COMMISSION.  The commission [may] SHALL, from time to
   10  time, specify [the] A UNIFORM form and content [of] FOR  such  bills  to
   11  further  the objectives of this subdivision. SUCH FORM AND CONTENT SHALL
   12  REQUIRE THE USE OF SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS.
   13    S 3.  The public service law is amended by adding a new  section  92-g
   14  to read as follows:
   15    S  92-G.  UNIFORMITY IN RESIDENTIAL BILLS. 1. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS
   16  SECTION, "PROVIDER OF TELEPHONE SERVICES" MEANS A TELEPHONE  CORPORATION
   17  THAT  PROVIDES INTRASTATE INTER-LATA, INTRA-LATA OR LOCAL EXCHANGE TELE-
   18  PHONE SERVICE TO END-USE CUSTOMERS.
   19    2. EVERY PROVIDER OF TELEPHONE SERVICES SHALL ASSURE  THAT  BILLS  FOR
   20  TELEPHONE SERVICE TO RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS ADEQUATELY EXPLAIN THE CHARG-
   21  ES  FOR  SERVICE  AND ALL OTHER CHARGES IN CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE FORM
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD10036-03-3
       S. 4449                             2
    1  AND LANGUAGE. FURTHERMORE, SUCH BILLS SHALL UTILIZE THE  FORMAT,  TERMI-
    2  NOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS ESTABLISHED THEREFOR BY THE COMMISSION.
    3    3. THE COMMISSION SHALL ESTABLISH A UNIFORM FORMAT FOR BILLS ISSUED TO
    4  RESIDENTIAL  CUSTOMERS  BY  PROVIDERS OF TELEPHONE SERVICES. SUCH FORMAT
    5  SHALL REQUIRE THE USE OF SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS.
    6    S 4. Section 224-b of the public service law, as added by chapter  359
    7  of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
    8    S  224-b.  Cable bills. 1. At the time service is initiated to a resi-
    9  dential customer and at least once a year  thereafter,  every  telephone
   10  corporation,  as defined in subdivision seventeen of section two of this
   11  chapter, and every cable television company, as defined in  section  two
   12  hundred  twelve of this article that provides cable service to customers
   13  in New York shall provide its  customers  with  a  notice  that  billing
   14  statements  are  available in a large print format. Upon written request
   15  by a customer, every telephone corporation and cable television  company
   16  shall provide the customer's billing statements in large print format no
   17  later  than sixty days after the date upon which the request is received
   18  by  the  telephone  corporation  and  cable  television   company.   The
   19  provisions  of  this section shall apply only to printed statements. For
   20  the purposes of this section, "large print" means a font size of sixteen
   21  or larger to illuminate billing information.
   22    2. EVERY TELEPHONE CORPORATION  AND  CABLE  TELEVISION  COMPANY  SHALL
   23  ASSURE  THAT BILLS FOR CABLE SERVICE TO RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS ADEQUATELY
   24  EXPLAIN THE CHARGES FOR SERVICE AND  ALL  OTHER  CHARGES  IN  CLEAR  AND
   25  UNDERSTANDABLE FORM AND LANGUAGE.  FURTHERMORE, SUCH BILLS SHALL UTILIZE
   26  THE  FORMAT,  TERMINOLOGY  AND  DEFINITIONS  ESTABLISHED THEREFOR BY THE
   27  COMMISSION.
   28    3. THE COMMISSION SHALL ESTABLISH A UNIFORM FORMAT FOR BILLS ISSUED TO
   29  RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS FOR CABLE SERVICE. SUCH FORMAT SHALL  REQUIRE  THE
   30  USE OF SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS.
   31    S  5.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
   32  deemed repealed 5 years after it shall take effect, except that  section
   33  two  of  this  act,  subdivision 2 of section 92-g of the public service
   34  law, as added by section three of this act, and subdivision 2 of section
   35  224-b of the public service law, as added by section four of  this  act,
   36  shall  take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after this act shall
   37  have become a law.