Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB701 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	86R25644 JES-D
2		-	By: Lucio III, Moody H.B. No. 701
3		-	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 701:
4		-	By: Darby C.S.H.B. No. 701
	1	+	86R4825 JES-D
	2	+	By: Lucio III H.B. No. 701
5	3
6	4
7	5		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	6		AN ACT
9	7		relating to the regulation of call centers; providing a civil
10	8		penalty.
11	9		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	10		SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is
13	11		amended by adding Chapter 113 to read as follows:
14	12		CHAPTER 113. CALL CENTERS
15	13		SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
16	14		Sec. 113.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
17	15		(1) "Call center" means a business entity or a
18	16		division of a business entity with a primary purpose involving
19	17		initiating or receiving telephone communications on behalf of a
20	18		person for the purpose of initiating sales, including making a
21	19		telephone solicitation as defined by Section 302.001, providing
22	20		services, or providing or receiving information in connection with
23	21		the provision of services.
24	22		(2) "Customer" means a resident of this state who
25	23		receives a call from or places a call to a call center.
26	24		(3) "Customer service employee" means a person
27	25		employed by or working on behalf of a call center.
28	26		(4) "Department" means the Texas Department of
29	27		Insurance.
30	28		(5) "Public agency" means this state or an agency,
31	29		instrumentality, or political subdivision of this state, including
32	30		a county, municipality, public school district, or special-purpose
33	31		district or authority.
34	32		(6) "Public subsidy" means a program, benefit, or
35	33		assistance of any type offered by a public agency that is designed
36	34		to stimulate the economic development of a corporation, industry,
37	35		or sector of the state's economy or to create or retain jobs in this
38	36		state. The term includes grants, loans, loan guarantees, benefits
39	37		relating to an enterprise or empowerment zone, fee waivers, land
40	38		price subsidies, infrastructure development and improvements
41	39		designed to principally benefit a single business or defined group
42	40		of businesses, matching funds, tax refunds, tax rebates, or tax
43	41		abatements offered by a public agency.
44	42		Sec. 113.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies to a
45	43		business that is a call center or operates a call center only if the
46	44		business:
47	45		(1) has at least 50 customer service employees located
48	46		in this state, excluding customer service employees who work less
49	47		than 20 hours per week; or
50	48		(2) has at least 50 customer service employees located
51	49		in this state who, in the aggregate, work a total of at least 1,500
52	50		hours per week.
53	51		SUBCHAPTER B. RELOCATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS
54	52		Sec. 113.101. NOTICE REQUIRED; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A
55	53		business shall notify the department if the business plans to:
56	54		(1) terminate customer service employee positions in
57	55		this state that handle at least 50 percent of total customer service
58	56		call volume for the business, as measured against the previous 12
59		-	months' average customer service call volume of the business; and
	57	+	months average customer service call volume of the business; and
60	58		(2) relocate the duties of those positions to persons
61	59		in one or more call centers located outside of the United States.
62	60		(b) The business shall notify the department of its intent
63		-	to terminate and relocate the positions at least 60 days before the
64		-	termination or relocation of the positions. A business receiving a
65		-	public subsidy at the time of notification shall additionally
66		-	notify the department that the business is receiving a public
67		-	subsidy when providing the notification to the department under
68		-	this subsection.
	61	+	to terminate and relocate the positions at least 120 days before the
	62	+	termination or relocation of the positions.
69	63		(c) A business that violates this section is liable to this
70	64		state for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for
71	65		each day that the business is in violation.
72	66		(d) The attorney general may bring suit to recover the
73	67		civil penalty imposed under Subsection (c).
74	68		Sec. 113.102. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT RELOCATE CUSTOMER
75	69		SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a
76		-	list of businesses that, while receiving a public subsidy, have
77		-	terminated and relocated customer service employee positions as
78		-	described by Section 113.101.
	70	+	list of businesses that have terminated and relocated customer
	71	+	service employee positions as described by Section 113.101.
79	72		(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a business that is
80	73		added to the list may not be removed from the list before the fifth
81	74		anniversary of the date the business was added to the list.
82	75		(c) The department shall make the list available to the
83	76		public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state
84	77		agencies and the Better Business Bureau.
85	78		(d) The department shall remove a business from the list if
86	79		the business relocates in this state as many customer service
87	80		employee positions as the business terminated and relocated causing
88	81		the business to be added to the list.
89		-	Sec. 113.103. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT MAINTAIN CUSTOMER
90		-	SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a
91		-	list of businesses that, while receiving a public subsidy, have not
92		-	terminated or relocated customer service employee positions as
93		-	described by Section 113.101.
94		-	(b) A business may request to be added to the list and the
95		-	department shall add the business to the list if, while receiving a
96		-	public subsidy, the business has not terminated or relocated
97		-	customer service employee positions.
98		-	(c) The department shall make the list available to the
99		-	public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state
100		-	agencies and the Better Business Bureau.
101		-	(d) The department shall remove a business from the list if
102		-	the business, while receiving a public subsidy, terminates or
103		-	relocates customer service employee positions as described by
104		-	Section 113.101.
105	82		SUBCHAPTER C. PUBLIC AGENCY CONTRACTS AND SUBSIDIES
106	83		Sec. 113.201. PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN BUSINESSES. In
107	84		awarding a contract for services, a public agency shall give
108	85		preference to a vendor, bidder, contractor, or subcontractor that
109	86		does not appear on the list maintained under Section 113.102.
110	87		Sec. 113.202. PUBLIC SUBSIDIES PROHIBITED. (a) Except as
111	88		provided by Subsection (b), a public agency may not award or provide
112	89		a public subsidy to a business that appears on the list maintained
113	90		under Section 113.102.
114	91		(b) A public agency, after consulting with the department,
115	92		may award a public subsidy if the business applying for the subsidy
116	93		shows that the refusal to grant the subsidy would:
117	94		(1) result in substantial job loss in the state; or
118	95		(2) harm the environment.
119	96		Sec. 113.203. REPAYMENT OF PUBLIC SUBSIDY. A business that
120	97		has received a public subsidy and that is placed on the list
121	98		maintained under Section 113.102 after the business was awarded the
122	99		public subsidy shall repay the full amount of the public subsidy.
123		-	SUBCHAPTER D. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS
124		-	Sec. 113.301. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS. (a) All call
125		-	center services performed on behalf of a state agency must be
126		-	performed in this state.
127		-	(b) This section does not apply to services performed on
128		-	behalf of the Title IV-D agency under Subchapter D, Chapter 231,
129		-	Family Code.
	100	+	SUBCHAPTER D. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEES
	101	+	Sec. 113.301. DUTY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE. On the
	102	+	request of a customer, a business shall ensure that each customer
	103	+	service employee who communicates with a customer on behalf of the
	104	+	business:
	105	+	(1) discloses to the customer:
	106	+	(A) the city, state, and country where the
	107	+	customer service employee is located;
	108	+	(B) the name or registered alias of the customer
	109	+	service employee; and
	110	+	(C) the name of the employer of the customer
	111	+	service employee;
	112	+	(2) enables the customer to speak to an employee of the
	113	+	business on whose behalf the call center is communicating with the
	114	+	customer; and
	115	+	(3) transfers the call to a person in this state, if
	116	+	the customer service employee is not in this state.
	117	+	SUBCHAPTER E. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS
	118	+	Sec. 113.401. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS. All call center
	119	+	services performed on behalf of a state agency must be performed in
	120	+	this state.
130	121		SECTION 2. Chapter 113, Business & Commerce Code, as added
131	122		by this Act, applies only to a bid for a contract submitted or an
132	123		application for a public subsidy filed on or after the effective
133	124		date of this Act. A bid for a contract submitted or an application
134	125		filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
135	126		in effect on the date the bid was submitted or the application was
136	127		filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
137		-	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2020.
	128	+	SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
	129	+	section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2020.
	130	+	(b) Section 113.301, Business & Commerce Code, as added by
	131	+	this Act, takes effect January 1, 2022.