Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB1634 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R7652 JES-D
2	2	By: Lucio III H.B. No. 1634
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 113 to read as follows:
12	12	CHAPTER 113. CALL CENTERS
13	13	SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
14	14	Sec. 113.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
15	15	(1) "Call center" means a business entity or a
16	16	division of a business entity with a primary purpose involving
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. 113.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies to a
43	43	business that is a call center or operates a call center only if the
44	44	business:
45	45	(1) has at least 50 customer service employees located
46	46	in this state, excluding customer service employees who work less
47	47	than 20 hours per week; or
48	48	(2) has at least 50 customer service employees located
49	49	in this state who, in the aggregate, work a total of at least 1,500
50	50	hours per week.
51	51	SUBCHAPTER B. RELOCATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS
52	52	Sec. 113.101. NOTICE REQUIRED; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A
53	53	business shall notify the department if the business plans to:
54	54	(1) terminate customer service employee positions in
55	55	this state that handle at least 50 percent of total customer service
56	56	call volume for the business, as measured against the previous 12
57	57	months' average customer service call volume of the business; and
58	58	(2) relocate the duties of those positions to persons
59	59	in one or more call centers located outside of the United States.
60	60	(b) The business shall notify the department of its intent
61	61	to terminate and relocate the positions at least 60 days before the
62	62	termination or relocation of the positions. A business receiving a
63	63	public subsidy at the time of notification shall additionally
64	64	notify the department that the business is receiving a public
65	65	subsidy when providing the notification to the department under
66	66	this subsection.
67	67	(c) A business that violates this section is liable to this
68	68	state for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for
69	69	each day that the business is in violation.
70	70	(d) The attorney general may bring suit to recover the
71	71	civil penalty imposed under Subsection (c).
72	72	Sec. 113.102. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT RELOCATE CUSTOMER
73	73	SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a
74	74	list of businesses that, while receiving a public subsidy, have
75	75	terminated and relocated customer service employee positions as
76	76	described by Section 113.101.
77	77	(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a business that is
78	78	added to the list may not be removed from the list before the fifth
79	79	anniversary of the date the business was added to the list.
80	80	(c) The department shall make the list available to the
81	81	public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state
82	82	agencies and the Better Business Bureau.
83	83	(d) The department shall remove a business from the list if
84	84	the business relocates in this state as many customer service
85	85	employee positions as the business terminated and relocated causing
86	86	the business to be added to the list.
87	87	Sec. 113.103. LIST OF BUSINESSES THAT MAINTAIN CUSTOMER
88	88	SERVICE EMPLOYEE POSITIONS. (a) The department shall maintain a
89	89	list of businesses that, while receiving a public subsidy, have not
90	90	terminated or relocated customer service employee positions as
91	91	described by Section 113.101.
92	92	(b) A business may request to be added to the list and the
93	93	department shall add the business to the list if, while receiving a
94	94	public subsidy, the business has not terminated or relocated
95	95	customer service employee positions.
96	96	(c) The department shall make the list available to the
97	97	public and shall semiannually distribute the list to all state
98	98	agencies and the Better Business Bureau.
99	99	(d) The department shall remove a business from the list if
100	100	the business, while receiving a public subsidy, terminates or
101	101	relocates customer service employee positions as described by
102	102	Section 113.101.
103	103	SUBCHAPTER C. PUBLIC AGENCY CONTRACTS AND SUBSIDIES
104	104	Sec. 113.201. PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN BUSINESSES. In
105	105	awarding a contract for services, a public agency shall give
106	106	preference to a vendor, bidder, contractor, or subcontractor that
107	107	does not appear on the list maintained under Section 113.102.
108	108	Sec. 113.202. PUBLIC SUBSIDIES PROHIBITED. (a) Except as
109	109	provided by Subsection (b), a public agency may not award or provide
110	110	a public subsidy to a business that appears on the list maintained
111	111	under Section 113.102.
112	112	(b) A public agency, after consulting with the department,
113	113	may award a public subsidy if the business applying for the subsidy
114	114	shows that the refusal to grant the subsidy would:
115	115	(1) result in substantial job loss in the state; or
116	116	(2) harm the environment.
117	117	Sec. 113.203. REPAYMENT OF PUBLIC SUBSIDY. A business that
118	118	has received a public subsidy and that is placed on the list
119	119	maintained under Section 113.102 after the business was awarded the
120	120	public subsidy shall repay the full amount of the public subsidy.
121	121	SUBCHAPTER D. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS
122	122	Sec. 113.301. STATE AGENCY CALL CENTERS. (a) All call
123	123	center services performed on behalf of a state agency must be
124	124	performed in this state.
125	125	(b) This section does not apply to services performed on
126	126	behalf of the Title IV-D agency under Subchapter D, Chapter 231,
127	127	Family Code.
128	128	SECTION 2. Chapter 113, Business & Commerce Code, as added
129	129	by this Act, applies only to a bid for a contract submitted or an
130	130	application for a public subsidy filed on or after the effective
131	131	date of this Act. A bid for a contract submitted or an application
132	132	filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
133	133	in effect on the date the bid was submitted or the application was
134	134	filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
135	135	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022.