GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 531

Short Title:  State Phone Systems.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Albertson; Allran, Ballance, Ballantine, Blust Carpenter, Carrington, Clark, Cochrane, Conder, Cooper, Dalton, Dannelly, East, Forrester, Foxx, Garwood, Gulley, Hartsell, Horton, Hoyle, Jenkins, Jordan, Kerr, Kincaid, Kinnaird, Ledbetter, Lee, Lucas, Martin of Pitt, Martin of Guilford, McDaniel, Miller, Odom, Page, Perdue, Phillips, Plyler, Rand, Reeves, Rucho, Shaw of Cumberland, Shaw of Guilford, Soles, Warren, Webster, Weinstein, Wellons, and Winner.

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Referred to:  State Government, Local Government, and Personnel.

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March 27, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REQUIRE STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF MENUS ON AUTOMATED PHONE SYSTEMS THAT CALLERS MUST GO THROUGH BEFORE CONNECTING TO A PERSON AND TO ALLOW ACCESS TO AN ATTENDANT OR OPERATOR ON THE FIRST MENU.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that:
(1)	Some telephone systems operated by State government agencies require callers to proceed through several menus to finally reach an individual extension, an arrangement that can be intimidating to the caller;
(2)	Many State telephone systems also make it difficult to reach an attendant or operator at the agency; and
(3)	While automated telephone systems and voice mail are intended to improve the efficiency of government, the first duty of government is to serve the people, and efficiency should not impede the average citizen in attempting to contact a State agency for service or information.
Section 2.  State agency telephone systems routing calls to multiple extensions shall be reprogrammed by January 1, 1998, to minimize the number of menus that a caller must go through to reach the desired extension, and to allow the caller to reach an attendant or operator from the first menu when calling during normal business hours.
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.