HB2655 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 10275 MJR 20443 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB2655

Introduced 2/20/2009, by Rep. Patrick J Verschoore

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/4-604 new
220 ILCS 5/4-605 new

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall conduct a comprehensive workforce analysis study of each telecommunications carrier with more than 35,000 subscriber lines to determine the adequacy of the total in-house staffing in each job classification or job title critical to maintaining quality and reliability and restoring service in each telecommunications carrier's service territory. Provides that each report shall contain specified information for the period beginning in 1995 and ending in 2007. Provides that the Commission must present the results of the study to the General Assembly no later than January 1, 2010. Provides that a telecommunications carrier shall bear the costs of issuing any required reports and it shall not be entitled to recovery of any costs incurred in complying with specified provisions. Provides that the Commission shall develop benchmarks for employee staffing levels for each classification and employee training for each classification within 12 months after the required report is due. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning utilities.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding Sections 4-604 and 4-605 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/4-604 new)

Sec. 4-604. Telecommunications carrier workforce and high-speed internet study.

(a) The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive workforce analysis study of each telecommunications carrier with more than 35,000 subscriber lines to determine the adequacy of the total in-house staffing in each job classification or job title critical to maintaining quality and reliability and restoring service in the telecommunications carrier's service territory. Each report shall contain a yearly detailed comparison beginning with 1995 and ending in 2007 of the telecommunication carrier's ratio of:

(1) in-house workers (commonly referred to as "cable splicers", "business technicians", "customer technicians", "facility technicians", "cable technicians", "equipment technicians", "equipment installers", or "switching technicians") to customers;

(2) customer service call-center employees to customers; and

(3) customer engineering employees to customers.

The staffing shall be reported for each telecommunications carrier's named service area, district, division, outlying area, village, municipality, reporting point, region, or exchange. The analysis shall determine the total number of contractor employees in the same manner as the in-house analysis. Each yearly report shall contain the total amount of overtime worked in each geographic area or exchange by each classification for the corresponding year.

Each yearly report shall contain the total number of customers in each exchange of each telecommunications carrier that have high-speed internet service offered to them.

(b) The Commission must present the results of the study to the General Assembly no later than January 1, 2010.

(c) A telecommunications carrier shall bear the costs of issuing any reports required by this Section and it shall not be entitled to recovery of any costs incurred in complying with this Section.

(220 ILCS 5/4-605 new)

Sec. 4-605. Adequate employment for in-house telecommunications carrier employees. The Commission shall develop benchmarks for employee staffing levels for each classification and employee training for each classification within 12 months after the report required by Section 4-604 of this Act is due.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.