NY State Senate Bill 2009-S2811

Senate Bill S2811

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Directs public utilities to provide call center service assistance from centers located within the state and the utilities service area

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2010	referred to energy and telecommunications
Mar 03, 2009	referred to energy and telecommunications

co-Sponsors

View additional co-sponsors

2009-S2811 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Energy And Telecommunications
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §65, Pub Serv L

2009-S2811 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs public utilities to provide call center service assistance from centers located within the state and the service area; describes the various services which must be addressed from the call centers.

2009-S2811 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2811

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the public service law, in relation to utility service
call centers


 PURPOSE :

Requires public utilities to provide certain call center service
assistance from centers located within New York State and within the
utilities' service area.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1. Adds a new subdivision 13 to Section 65 of the Public
Service Law, to require utilities to provide certain call center
services to customers from centers located within the service area of
the utility.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Claiming cost savings and more efficient customer service, many public
utilities are considering or are already employing the services of
call centers located out-of-state and outside the service area of

these companies. While on the outset the above intentions seem
reasonable, this strategy is actually a disinvestment in both New
York's economy and overall safety.

To have employees who work and reside in communities within the
service area of a given public utility, as opposed to workers at a
centralized location out-of-state will assure a greater level of
responsiveness and a sensitivity to local conditions not possible with
remote centralization.  Community-based employees have a vested
interest in the safety and general well-being of the areas in which
they live.

Additionally, relocating call centers outside designated service areas
also demonstrates the potential for compromising the timelines of
responses to emergency calls and significantly costly billing
discrepancies.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2007-08: S.2007/A.606, Veto
138.
2005-06: S.2189/ A.4184, Passed Assembly.
2004:    S.6079/A.201.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of January in the year next
succeeding the year in which it shall have become law.

2009-S2811 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  2811

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              March 3, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  VOLKER,  BONACIC, DeFRANCISCO, FUSCHILLO, HANNON,
  LANZA, LARKIN, LAVALLE, SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed,  and
  when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommu-
  nications

AN  ACT  to amend the public service law, in relation to utility service
  call centers

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. Subdivision 11 of section 65 of the public service law, as
added by chapter 693 of the laws of 1985, is renumbered subdivision   12
and a new subdivision 13 is added to read as follows:
  13.  EVERY  GAS  CORPORATION,  ELECTRIC  CORPORATION  OR  MUNICIPALITY
FURNISHING UTILITY SERVICE SHALL, USING  SERVICES  LOCATED  WITHIN  THIS
STATE AND WITHIN THEIR SERVICE AREA, PROVIDE CALL CENTER SERVICE ASSIST-
ANCE FOR THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:
  (A) DETERMINING CUSTOMER FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
  (B) TAKING REQUESTS FOR NEW OR ADDITIONAL SERVICES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, EMERGENCY SERVICE.
  (C) DETERMINING DEPOSIT REQUIRED OR BILLING RATE.
  (D) PREPARING METER AND SERVICE ORDERS AND OBTAINING ACCESS TO METERS.
  (E)  EXPLAINING  COMPANY  RATES,  REGULATIONS,  POLICIES,  PROCEDURES,
EQUIPMENT AND COMMON PRACTICES.
  (F) INVESTIGATING TROUBLE ORDER FORMS AND INITIATING HIGH BILL  INVES-
TIGATIONS.
  (G)  HANDLING  PAYMENT AND OTHER CREDIT ARRANGEMENTS SUCH AS OBTAINING
DEPOSITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND PAYMENT PLANS.
  (H) REFERRING CUSTOMERS TO SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES AND  OTHER  ASSIST-
ANCE PROGRAMS.
  S  2.  This  act shall take effect on the first of January in the year
next succeeding the year in which it shall have become a law.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09396-01-9

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.