Texas 2015 - 84th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3385 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	84R9680 DDT-D
2	2	By: Davis of Dallas H.B. No. 3385
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the regulation of call centers; providing a civil
8	8	penalty.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is
11	11	amended by adding Chapter 110 to read as follows:
12	12	CHAPTER 110. CALL CENTERS
13	13	SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
14	14	Sec. 110.001. In this chapter:
15	15	(1) "Call center" means a business entity or a
16	16	division of a business entity whose primary purpose includes
17	17	initiating or receiving telephone communications on behalf of a
18	18	person for the purpose of initiating sales, including making a
19	19	telephone solicitation as defined by Section 302.001, providing
20	20	services, or providing or receiving information in connection with
21	21	the provision of services.
22	22	(2) "Customer" means a resident of this state who
23	23	receives a call from or places a call to a call center.
24	24	(3) "Customer service employee" means a person
25	25	employed by or working on behalf of a call center.
26	26	(4) "Department" means the Texas Department of
27	27	Insurance.
28	28	(5) "Public agency" means this state or an agency,
29	29	instrumentality, or political subdivision of this state, including
30	30	a county, municipality, public school district, or special-purpose
31	31	district or authority.
32	32	(6) "Public subsidy" means a program, benefit, or
33	33	assistance of any type offered by a public agency that is designed
34	34	to stimulate the economic development of a corporation, industry,
35	35	or sector of the state's economy or to create or retain jobs in this
36	36	state. The term includes grants, loans, loan guarantees, benefits
37	37	relating to an enterprise or empowerment zone, fee waivers, land
38	38	price subsidies, infrastructure development and improvements
39	39	designed to principally benefit a single business or defined group
40	40	of businesses, matching funds, tax refunds, tax rebates, or tax
41	41	abatements offered by a public agency.
42	42	Sec. 110.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
43	43	a business that is a call center or operates a call center and that:
44	44	(1) has at least 50 customer service employees located
45	45	in this state, excluding customer service employees who work less
46	46	than 20 hours per week; or
47	47	(2) has at least 50 customer service employees located
48	48	in this state who, in the aggregate, work a total of at least 1,500
49	49	hours per week.
50	50	SUBCHAPTER B. RELOCATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS
51	51	Sec. 110.101. NOTICE REQUIRED; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A
52	52	business shall notify the department if the business plans to:
53	53	(1) terminate customer service employee positions in
54	54	this state that handle at least 50 percent of total customer service
55	55	call volume for the business, as measured against the previous 12
56	56	months average customer service call volume of the business; and
57	57	(2) relocate the duties of those positions to persons
58	58	in one or more call centers located outside of the United States.
59	59	(b) The business shall notify the department of its intent
60	60	to terminate and relocate the positions at least 120 days before the
61	61	termination or relocation of the positions.
62	62	(c) A business that violates this section is liable to this
63	63	state for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for
64	64	each day that the business is in violation.
65	65	(d) The attorney general may bring suit to recover the
66	66	civil penalty imposed under Subsection (c).
67	67	Sec. 110.102. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT RELOCATE CUSTOMER
68	68	SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a
69	69	list of businesses that have terminated and relocated customer
70	70	service employee positions as described by Section 110.101.
71	71	(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a business that is
72	72	added to the list may not be removed from the list before the fifth
73	73	anniversary of the date the business was added to the list.
74	74	(c) The department shall make the list available to the
75	75	public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state
76	76	agencies and the Better Business Bureau.
77	77	(d) The department shall remove a business from the list if
78	78	the business relocates in this state as many customer service
79	79	employee positions as the business terminated and relocated when
80	80	the business was added to the list.
81	81	SUBCHAPTER C. PUBLIC AGENCY CONTRACTS AND SUBSIDIES
82	82	Sec. 110.201. PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN BUSINESSES. In
83	83	awarding a contract for services, a public agency shall give
84	84	preference to a vendor, bidder, contractor, or subcontractor that
85	85	does not appear on the list maintained under Section 110.102.
86	86	Sec. 110.202. PUBLIC SUBSIDIES PROHIBITED. (a) Except as
87	87	provided by Subsection (b), a public agency may not award or provide
88	88	a public subsidy to a business that appears on the list maintained
89	89	under Section 110.102.
90	90	(b) A public agency, after consulting with the department,
91	91	may award a public subsidy if the business applying for the subsidy
92	92	shows that the refusal to grant the subsidy would:
93	93	(1) result in substantial job loss in the state; or
94	94	(2) harm the environment.
95	95	Sec. 110.203. REPAYMENT OF PUBLIC SUBSIDY. A business that
96	96	has received a public subsidy and that is placed on the list
97	97	maintained under Section 110.102 after the business was awarded the
98	98	public subsidy shall repay the full amount of the public subsidy.
99	99	SUBCHAPTER D. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEES
100	100	Sec. 110.301. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE. On the
101	101	request of a customer, a business shall ensure that each customer
102	102	service employee who communicates with a customer on behalf of the
103	103	business:
104	104	(1) discloses to the customer:
105	105	(A) the city, state, and country where the
106	106	customer service employee is located;
107	107	(B) the name or registered alias of the customer
108	108	service employee; and
109	109	(C) the name of the employer of the customer
110	110	service employee;
111	111	(2) enables the customer to speak to an employee of the
112	112	business on whose behalf the call center is communicating with the
113	113	customer; and
114	114	(3) transfers the call to a person in this state, if
115	115	the customer service employee is not in this state.
116	116	SUBCHAPTER E. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS
117	117	Sec. 110.401. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS. All call center
118	118	service performed on behalf of a state agency must be performed in
119	119	this state.
120	120	SECTION 2. Chapter 110, Business & Commerce Code, as added
121	121	by this Act, applies only to a bid for a contract submitted or an
122	122	application for a public subsidy filed on or after the effective
123	123	date of this Act. A bid for a contract submitted or an application
124	124	filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
125	125	in effect on the date the bid was submitted or the application was
126	126	filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
127	127	SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
128	128	section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2016.
129	129	(b) Section 110.301, Business & Commerce Code, as added by
130	130	this Act, takes effect January 1, 2018.