S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  7817

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             April 24, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  P. RIVERA  --  read once and referred to the
  Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection

AN ACT to prohibit public utility companies, cable television  companies
  and  cellular  telephone  service  suppliers  from  providing,  to any
  consumer credit reporting agency, information on late payments  of  or
  default  on  any fees or charges incurred by a consumer; and providing
  for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof

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

  Section  1.  Notwithstanding any provision  of law to the contrary, no
public utility company as defined in subdivision 23 of section 2 of  the
public  service law, municipality engaged in providing any public utili-
ty, cable television company as defined in subdivision 1 of section  212
of the public service law or wireless communications service supplier as
defined in subdivision 12 of section 301 of the county law, nor the Long
Island  power  authority or the power authority of the state of New York
shall report, disclose or otherwise make available to any consumer cred-
it reporting agency as defined in subdivision (k) of  section  380-a  of
the  general  business law, any information relating to the late payment
of or default on the payment of any charge or fee by a consumer for  the
provision of any public utility or other service or goods.
  S  2.  Any  consumer  who has been injured by reason of a violation of
section one of this act may bring an action in his or her  own  name  to
enjoin such violation; an action to recover his or her actual damages or
five  hundred  dollars,  whichever is greater; or both such actions. The
court may, in its discretion, increase the award of damages to an amount
not to exceed three times the actual damages, if  the  court  finds  the
defendant  willfully and knowingly violated section one of this act. The
court may award reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law, and shall expire and be deemed repealed 2 years after
such effective date.

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

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