TELECOM USAGE GUIDELINES

The Division of Communications provides telecommunications facilities and equipment for state agency employees to use in the performance of their official state duties when deemed necessary. These facilities and equipment are to be used in accordance with the State of Nebraska statutes as outlined below.

State Statute 81-1120.27 states: “The facilities of the state’s telecommunications systems are provided for the conduct of state business. In addition, the state’s telecommunications systems may be used by state employees and officials for local calls and long-distance calls to children at home, teachers, doctors, day care centers, and baby-sitters, to family members to inform them of unexpected schedule changes, and for other essential personal business. The use of the state’s telecommunications

 systems for essential personal business shall be kept to a minimum and shall not interfere with the conduct of state business. Essential personal long-distance calls shall be either collect, charged to a third-party, non-state number, or charged to a personal credit card.”

State Statute 81-1120.02 defines communications systems as: “the total communications facilities and equipment owned, leased, or used by all departments, agencies and subdivisions of state government; and communications shall mean any transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic signals.”

Section 49-14,101(4) of the Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act provides that no public official or public employee shall use personnel, property, resources, or funds under their official care and control other than in accordance with law. Therefore, to misuse the state telephone system is to violate Section 19-14,101(4). A violation could result in the assessment of a civil penalty of up to $1,000 or it could result in criminal prosecution. These consequences would be in addition to any disciplinary action taken by the employee’s agency.

— WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! —

The Division of Communications attached a performance survey to the May 2001 newsletter. Please complete this survey as soon as possible and return it to us so that we may learn how we can improve our service to you. If you need another copy of this survey, please contact Vicki at 402/471-2761. Thank you.

LONG DISTANCE LOCAL CALL CHARGES ON YOUR BILL

When a local call made from your desk phone appears as a long distance call on your billing, it may be that an area code has been dialed when making a local call. To avoid these charges, dial only the seven digits of the local telephone number.

Dialing the area code on local calls changes the way calls are routed by the vendors and handled in billing programs. It is difficult and next to impossible for the State of Nebraska to receive credit for charges that are the result of a dialing error.

Below is the current list of Lincoln local prefixes. You may dial these prefixes from any Lincoln Centrex phone and it is NOT necessary to dial the 402 area code. Please share this information with agency personnel.

NEW E-MAIL ERRORS VIDEO

The Division of Communications has acquired a new “Telephone Doctor” training video called E-Mail Errors. This video deals with inappropriate use of e-mail, confidentiality limits, wording of e-mails, miscommunication by e-mail and much more!

The Division has several other video tapes produced by the “Telephone Doctor” that agencies can borrow at no charge. To borrow this video or for a list of videos available for viewing, contact Vicki at 402/471-2761

The Division of Communications maintains copies of telecommunications billings for a period of 24 months. Statutorily, the billing records are the property of the agency and are public record at that location. Each agency is encouraged to review the Records Management schedule and record retention guidelines.

Recently, Citizens Communications sent out a mailing to the State of Nebraska that contained a “Welcome to Citizens” letter and a tax exempt form to be completed and returned.

If your agency received this mailing, please do not fill out and return the tax exempt form. The Division of Communications is asking that all tax exempt forms received from Citizens be returned to us at the Executive Building, 521 So. 14th Street, Suite 300, Lincoln, NE 68508-2707. Thank you for your cooperation.

“Junk Fax” Prohibition

The Federal Communications Commission rules prohibit the use of the telephone fax machine, computer, or other device to send unsolicited advertisements to telephone fax machines. The FCC is authorized to take enforcement action against companies that send so-called “junk faxes” and encourages consumers to inform the FCC if they have received such faxes.

An unsolicited advertisement is defined as “any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services that is transmitted to any person without that person’s prior express invitation or permission.” This applies to both businesses and residences. The mere distribution or publication of a fax number does not infer an invitation or permission to transmit advertisements to a particular fax machine. An established business relationship, however, demonstrates consent to receive fax advertisement transmissions.

The FCC’s rules further require that any message sent to a fax machine must clearly mark on the first page or on each page of the message the date and time the transmission is sent, the identity of the sender, and the telephone number to the sender or of the sending fax machine.

The FCC has taken numerous enforcement actions and to date, the FCC has issued 39 citations and proposed or issued fines in response to consumer complaints totaling more than 1.5 million.

Consumers can file complaints a number of ways with the FCC:

On-line: www.fcc.gov/cib/ccformpage.html

By mail:

Federal Communications Comm.

Consumer Information Bureau

Complaints

445 12th Street

Washington, DC 20554

By phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC

Consumers may be required to provide documentation in support of their complaints. (Paraphrased from the Clarks Telecommunications Co., June 2001 newsletter “The Connection”.)

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