AN ACT to add an enforcement mechanism available to the consumer protection division of the department of justice for repeat violations committed by a cable service provider of the federal customer service requirements or the terms and conditions of the cable service provider's agreement with customers.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 66‑356 reads as rewritten:

§ 66‑356.  Service standards and requirements.

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(c)        Complaints. – The Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office is designated as the State agency to receive and respond to receive, investigate, and resolve customer complaints concerning cable services. Persistent or repeated violations of the federal customer service requirements or the terms and conditions of the cable service provider's agreement with customers are unfair or deceptive acts or practices under G.S. 75‑1.1.

To facilitate the resolution of customer complaints, the cable service provider must include the following statement on the customer's bill: If you have a complaint about your cable service, you should first contact customer service at the following telephone number: (insert the cable service provider's customer service telephone number). If the cable service provider does not satisfactorily resolve your complaint, contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office of the State of North Carolina (insert information on how to contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office).

Two or more violations of the same federal customer service requirement or the same term and condition of the cable service provider's agreement with customers are unfair or deceptive acts or practices under G.S. 75‑1.1. Additionally, the Division may bring a civil action for forfeiture of revenue received from subscribers to the cable service (i) in the area where the violations were committed for the period during which the violations were committed and (ii) who were directly affected by the violations. A forfeiture does not affect the liability of the cable service provider for sales tax due under G.S. 105‑164.4 on cable service. The amount required to be forfeited in the action must be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund established in G.S. 115C‑457.2.

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(e)        Report to Revenue Laws Study Committee. – The Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office must report to the Revenue Laws Study Committee on or before April 1 of each year, beginning April 1, 2008, year on the following information concerning cable service complaints the Division has received from cable customers under this section:

(1)        The number of customer complaints.

(2)        The types of customer complaints.

(3)        The different means of resolving customer complaints.

(f)        Construction. – Nothing in this section shall be construed as applying to video streaming services. For purposes of this subsection, the term video streaming service means an entity that makes available directly to the consumer, through a distribution method that uses internet protocol, video programming or video content the entity makes available for users to view.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Justice the sum of one hundred thirty‑three thousand dollars ($133,000) in recurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to be used to hire one Administrative Specialist I and one Program Coordinator to focus on complaints received under G.S. 66‑356(c), as amended by Section 1 of this act. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Justice the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to be used for costs incurred from implementing G.S. 66‑356(c), as amended by Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  Section 2 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2026. The remainder of this act becomes effective June 1, 2027, and applies to violations committed on or after that date.