S 1060: 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