[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 166 (Monday, November 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14965-S14966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DASCHLE (for Mr. Kerry):
  S. 1873. A bill to require employees at a call center who either 
initiate or receive telephone calls to disclose the physical location 
of such employees, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  (At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce today the 
``Call Center Consumer's Right to Know Act.'' This legislation is in 
response to the mounting evidence showing that U.S. corporations are 
rapidly shifting hundreds of thousands high-tech and service sector 
jobs abroad. Labor officials, business leaders, economists, elected 
officials and ordinary Americans are concerned that this bleeding

[[Page S14966]]

of American jobs will further slow our economy. In addition to the more 
than 2 million manufacturing jobs that have been lost since 2000, some 
have indicated that we may also be witnessing the largest out-sourcing 
of non-manufacturing jobs in the history of the U.S. economy. The 
statistics are staggering. In the month of July 2003 alone, between 
25,000 and 30,000 jobs were outsourced to India. According to the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly one in ten jobs held by Americans 
in 2001 are now at risk to be outsourced abroad.
  These jobs are not specific to one sector or a select few companies, 
but span a broad array of services, including customer call service 
centers, payroll and other back-office related activities, stock market 
research for financial firms, medical transcription services, legal 
online database research and data analysis for consulting firms. In 
addition, firms involved with software services and business process 
outsourcing are rapidly expanding to a host of different countries, 
including India, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Russia, Israel, and 
Ireland.
  In addition to rapid service sector job losses, consumers are 
concerned with the growing threat of identity theft. So far, efforts to 
stem this tide and keep up with the technological advancements that 
enable these crimes have done little to allay concerns. This trend 
becomes all the more alarming when millions of calls involving personal 
financial transactions are routed beyond our borders, where they are 
not protected by our laws and law enforcement. Aside from the very 
serious concerns related to identify theft, there is also a consumer 
awareness element of this problem, as very few Americans are aware that 
the person on the other end of the telephone line is in another 
country. Americans should have full information about the outsourcing 
of call center jobs when they decide who they will purchase their 
products and services from.
  The ``Call Center Consumer's Right to Know Act'' is a simple and 
straightforward answer to the challenges posed by these unprecedented 
service sector job losses and growing risks of identity theft. The bill 
simply requires call center representatives to disclose their physical 
location at the beginning of each phone call. Consumers will therefore 
have important information about who is providing the services in 
question and the level of risk involved in proceeding with their 
transaction by phone. This legislation will help American consumers 
make informed choices about who is providing the services they 
purchase, and at the same time, addresses the growing problem of U.S. 
corporations moving hundreds of thousands of service sector jobs 
abroad. Furthermore, my bill will go a long way to restoring consumer 
confidence in the booming call center market and help provide a measure 
of security for telephone and Internet consumer transactions.
  There can be no doubt that the outsourcing of these important 
American service sector jobs abroad has played a part in the jobless, 
or what some call the ``job-loss'' economic recovery of 2003. It is 
predicted that future outsourcing of service sector jobs may provide 
more costly to the US. economy than the loss of American manufacturing 
jobs we are witnessing today. Unfortunately, the economics that 
produced this trend are unlikely to change without a concerted effort 
to both provide companies with an incentive to keep their jobs in 
American and promote consumer awareness of the services they 
unknowingly purchase from other countries. This is precisely what the 
Call Center Consumer's Right to Know Act seeks to accomplish.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1873

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Call Center Consumer's Right 
     to Know Act of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. CALL CENTER REQUIREMENTS.

       (a) In General.--A United States corporation or its 
     subsidiaries that utilizes a call center to initiate 
     telephone calls to, or receive telephone calls from, 
     individuals located in the United States, shall require each 
     employee in the call center to disclose the physical location 
     of such employee at the beginning of each telephone call so 
     initiated or received.
       (b) Certification Requirement.--A corporation or subsidiary 
     described in subsection (a) shall annually certify to the 
     Federal Trade Commission whether or not the corporation or 
     subsidiary, and the employees of the corporation or 
     subsidiary at its call centers, have complied with that 
     subsection.
       (c) Noncompliance.--A corporation or subsidiary that 
     violates subsection (a) shall be subject to such civil 
     penalties as the Federal Trade Commission prescribes under 
     section 3.
       (d) Call Center Defined.--In this section, the term ``call 
     center'' means a location that provides customer-based 
     service and sales assistance or technical assistance and 
     expertise to individuals located in the United States via 
     telephone, the Internet, or other telecommunications and 
     information technology.

     SEC. 3. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES.

       Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall prescribe rules to 
     provide for effective monitoring and compliance with this 
     Act. The Federal Trade Commission's rulemaking shall include 
     appropriate civil penalties for noncompliance with this Act.
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