86R4825 JES-D
By: Lucio III H.B. No. 701
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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.