Limits certain charging practices by companies that provide prepaid telephone calling cards and increases fines for violations of limitation requirements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1060
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to limiting certain
charging practices by companies that provide prepaid telephone calling
cards and increasing fines for violations of limitation requirements
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 92-f of the public service law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision 4-a to read as follows:
3 4-a. No company that provides prepaid calling services through prepaid
4 calling cards shall:
5 a. calculate usage charges by rounding up beyond the next minute for
6 telephone phone calls;
7 b. charge minutes for unconnected telephone phone calls, including
8 calls that are dropped or to which there is no answer or a busy signal;
9 c. publicize or display advertisements stating that there is no
10 connection fee associated with a plan or calling card if there is a
11 disconnection fee associated with the plan or calling card.
12 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 92-f of the public service law, as
13 added by chapter 651 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
14 8. Enforcement. The commission shall have the power, consistent with
15 federal law, to assess a penalty not to exceed [one] five thousand
16 dollars against any company that provides prepaid calling cards or
17 services that knowingly fails or neglects to comply with any provision
18 of this section or any regulation or order of the commission implement-
19 ing or enforcing the provisions of this section for a first violation
20 and ten thousand dollars for a second or subsequent violation. All
21 moneys recovered from any administrative penalty shall be paid into the
22 state treasury to the credit of the general fund.
23 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day
24 after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01647-01-5
