Bill Text: TX SB1881 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of call centers; providing a civil penalty.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-18 - Referred to Business & Commerce [SB1881 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SB1881-Introduced.html
| 86R4825 JES-D | ||
| By: Alvarado | S.B. No. 1881 | |
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| relating to the regulation of call centers; providing a civil | ||
| penalty. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Chapter 113 to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 113. CALL CENTERS | ||
| SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS | ||
| Sec. 113.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
| (1) "Call center" means a business entity or a | ||
| division of a business entity with a primary purpose involving | ||
| initiating or receiving telephone communications on behalf of a | ||
| person for the purpose of initiating sales, including making a | ||
| telephone solicitation as defined by Section 302.001, providing | ||
| services, or providing or receiving information in connection with | ||
| the provision of services. | ||
| (2) "Customer" means a resident of this state who | ||
| receives a call from or places a call to a call center. | ||
| (3) "Customer service employee" means a person | ||
| employed by or working on behalf of a call center. | ||
| (4) "Department" means the Texas Department of | ||
| Insurance. | ||
| (5) "Public agency" means this state or an agency, | ||
| instrumentality, or political subdivision of this state, including | ||
| a county, municipality, public school district, or special-purpose | ||
| district or authority. | ||
| (6) "Public subsidy" means a program, benefit, or | ||
| assistance of any type offered by a public agency that is designed | ||
| to stimulate the economic development of a corporation, industry, | ||
| or sector of the state's economy or to create or retain jobs in this | ||
| state. The term includes grants, loans, loan guarantees, benefits | ||
| relating to an enterprise or empowerment zone, fee waivers, land | ||
| price subsidies, infrastructure development and improvements | ||
| designed to principally benefit a single business or defined group | ||
| of businesses, matching funds, tax refunds, tax rebates, or tax | ||
| abatements offered by a public agency. | ||
| Sec. 113.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies to a | ||
| business that is a call center or operates a call center only if the | ||
| business: | ||
| (1) has at least 50 customer service employees located | ||
| in this state, excluding customer service employees who work less | ||
| than 20 hours per week; or | ||
| (2) has at least 50 customer service employees located | ||
| in this state who, in the aggregate, work a total of at least 1,500 | ||
| hours per week. | ||
| SUBCHAPTER B. RELOCATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS | ||
| Sec. 113.101. NOTICE REQUIRED; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A | ||
| business shall notify the department if the business plans to: | ||
| (1) terminate customer service employee positions in | ||
| this state that handle at least 50 percent of total customer service | ||
| call volume for the business, as measured against the previous 12 | ||
| months average customer service call volume of the business; and | ||
| (2) relocate the duties of those positions to persons | ||
| in one or more call centers located outside of the United States. | ||
| (b) The business shall notify the department of its intent | ||
| to terminate and relocate the positions at least 120 days before the | ||
| termination or relocation of the positions. | ||
| (c) A business that violates this section is liable to this | ||
| state for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for | ||
| each day that the business is in violation. | ||
| (d) The attorney general may bring suit to recover the | ||
| civil penalty imposed under Subsection (c). | ||
| Sec. 113.102. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT RELOCATE CUSTOMER | ||
| SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a | ||
| list of businesses that have terminated and relocated customer | ||
| service employee positions as described by Section 113.101. | ||
| (b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a business that is | ||
| added to the list may not be removed from the list before the fifth | ||
| anniversary of the date the business was added to the list. | ||
| (c) The department shall make the list available to the | ||
| public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state | ||
| agencies and the Better Business Bureau. | ||
| (d) The department shall remove a business from the list if | ||
| the business relocates in this state as many customer service | ||
| employee positions as the business terminated and relocated causing | ||
| the business to be added to the list. | ||
| SUBCHAPTER C. PUBLIC AGENCY CONTRACTS AND SUBSIDIES | ||
| Sec. 113.201. PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN BUSINESSES. In | ||
| awarding a contract for services, a public agency shall give | ||
| preference to a vendor, bidder, contractor, or subcontractor that | ||
| does not appear on the list maintained under Section 113.102. | ||
| Sec. 113.202. PUBLIC SUBSIDIES PROHIBITED. (a) Except as | ||
| provided by Subsection (b), a public agency may not award or provide | ||
| a public subsidy to a business that appears on the list maintained | ||
| under Section 113.102. | ||
| (b) A public agency, after consulting with the department, | ||
| may award a public subsidy if the business applying for the subsidy | ||
| shows that the refusal to grant the subsidy would: | ||
| (1) result in substantial job loss in the state; or | ||
| (2) harm the environment. | ||
| Sec. 113.203. REPAYMENT OF PUBLIC SUBSIDY. A business that | ||
| has received a public subsidy and that is placed on the list | ||
| maintained under Section 113.102 after the business was awarded the | ||
| public subsidy shall repay the full amount of the public subsidy. | ||
| SUBCHAPTER D. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEES | ||
| Sec. 113.301. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE. On the | ||
| request of a customer, a business shall ensure that each customer | ||
| service employee who communicates with a customer on behalf of the | ||
| business: | ||
| (1) discloses to the customer: | ||
| (A) the city, state, and country where the | ||
| customer service employee is located; | ||
| (B) the name or registered alias of the customer | ||
| service employee; and | ||
| (C) the name of the employer of the customer | ||
| service employee; | ||
| (2) enables the customer to speak to an employee of the | ||
| business on whose behalf the call center is communicating with the | ||
| customer; and | ||
| (3) transfers the call to a person in this state, if | ||
| the customer service employee is not in this state. | ||
| SUBCHAPTER E. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS | ||
| Sec. 113.401. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS. All call center | ||
| services performed on behalf of a state agency must be performed in | ||
| this state. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 113, Business & Commerce Code, as added | ||
| by this Act, applies only to a bid for a contract submitted or an | ||
| application for a public subsidy filed on or after the effective | ||
| date of this Act. A bid for a contract submitted or an application | ||
| filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law | ||
| in effect on the date the bid was submitted or the application was | ||
| filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this | ||
| section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2020. | ||
| (b) Section 113.301, Business & Commerce Code, as added by | ||
| this Act, takes effect January 1, 2022. | ||
