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Senate Bill S8899

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to prohibiting telephone, cable and utility companies from charging a fee to customers who request copies of previous bill statements or statements verifying that they are a customer

download bill text pdf

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

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2019-S8899 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A9142
Current Committee:
Senate Rules
Law Section:
Public Service Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§224-b & 44, Pub Serv L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:
S4194, A3427

2019-S8899 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits telephone, cable and utility companies from charging a fee to customers who request copies of previous bill statements or statements verifying that they are a customer.

2019-S8899 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S8899 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8899
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              August 11, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to prohibiting tele-
   phone, cable and utility companies from charging a  fee  to  customers
   who  request copies of previous billing statements or statements veri-
   fying that they are a customer

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Section 224-b of the public service law, as added by chap-
 ter 359 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   § 224-b. Cable bills. 1. At the time service is initiated to  a  resi-
 dential  customer  and  at least once a year thereafter, every telephone
 corporation, as defined in subdivision seventeen of section two of  this
 chapter,  and  every cable television company, as defined in section two
 hundred twelve of this article that provides cable service to  customers
 in  New  York  shall  provide  its  customers with a notice that billing
 statements are available in a large print format.  Upon written  request
 by  a customer, every telephone corporation and cable television company
 shall provide the customer's billing statements in large print format no
 later than sixty days after the date upon which the request is  received
 by   the   telephone  corporation  and  cable  television  company.  The
 provisions of this section shall apply only to printed  statements.  For
 the purposes of this section, "large print" means a font size of sixteen
 or larger to illuminate billing information.
   2.  UPON CUSTOMER REQUEST, EVERY TELEPHONE CORPORATION AND CABLE TELE-
 VISION COMPANY SHALL  PROVIDE  COPIES  OF  PREVIOUS  BILLING  STATEMENTS
 AND/OR  STATEMENTS VERIFYING THAT SUCH PERSON REQUESTING THE DOCUMENT IS
 A CUSTOMER OF SUCH TELEPHONE CORPORATION OR  TELEVISION  COMPANY.  TELE-
 PHONE  CORPORATIONS  AND  TELEVISION COMPANIES SHALL NOT IMPOSE ANY FEE,
 CHARGE OR SURCHARGE FOR SUCH REQUESTS.
   § 2. Section 44 of the public service law is amended by adding  a  new
 subdivision 6 to read as follows:
   6.  UPON  CUSTOMER REQUEST, EVERY UTILITY CORPORATION, ENERGY SERVICES
 COMPANY OR MUNICIPALITY SHALL PROVIDE COPIES OF PREVIOUS BILLING  STATE-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

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