First Regular Session
Sixty-second General Assembly
LLS NO. 99-0133.01 Duane Gall SENATE BILL 99-071
STATE OF COLORADO
BY SENATOR Chlouber.
ENGROSSED
BUSINESS AFFAIRS & LABOR
A BILL FOR AN ACT
101 CONCERNING BILLING PRACTICES IN CONNECTION WITH LONG-DISTANCE
102 TELEPHONE SERVICE.
Bill Summary
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently
adopted.)
Requires providers of long-distance telephone service to notify
each residential and small business customer, at least once per year, of
the identity of the provider, the billing plan that the customer is on, the
amount the customer would have been charged during the immediately
preceding year under other available billing plans, if any, and the steps
the customer must take to change plans.
Prohibits a long-distance provider from transferring a customer's
calling card account from one provider to another, or from one billing
plan to another, without issuing the customer a new card that is
conspicuously different from the old card and that uses a different
account number unless the customer gives written consent on a statutorily
prescribed waiver form.
Punishes violations by making the provider liable to the customer
or the customer's local exchange provider for $250 or the customer's
charges incurred as a result of the violation, whichever is greater, and
liable to the customer's local exchange provider for all change fees.
1 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
2 SECTION 1. Part 1 of article 15 of title 40, Colorado Revised
3 Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION to
[ ] denotes HOUSE amendment. { } denotes SENATE amendment.
Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute.
Dashes through the words indicate material to be deleted from existing statute.
Page 2
1 read:
2 40-15-113. Billing for toll service - notice to customer -
3 prohibited acts. (1) EVERY PROVIDER OF TOLL SERVICE, INCLUDING,
4 WITHOUT LIMITATION, A TOLL RESELLER, SHALL GIVE EACH OF ITS
5 RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMERS THE FOLLOWING
6 INFORMATION IN WRITING AT LEAST ONCE PER CALENDAR YEAR:
7 (a) THE IDENTITY OF THE PROVIDER. IF THE PROVIDER IS A TOLL
8 RESELLER, IDENTIFYING INFORMATION SHALL INCLUDE ALL INFORMATION
9 REQUIRED TO BE FURNISHED TO THE COMMISSION UNDER SECTION
10 40-15-302.5.
11 (b) THE BILLING PLAN THAT THE CUSTOMER IS ON, IF THE PROVIDER
12 OFFERS MORE THAN ONE BILLING PLAN.
13 {(c) A LIST OF THE} OTHER AVAILABLE BILLING PLANS, IF ANY,
14 OFFERED BY THE PROVIDER, AND THE STEPS THE CUSTOMER MUST TAKE TO
15 CHANGE TO ANY OF SUCH OTHER PLANS.
16 (2) IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR A PROVIDER OF TOLL SERVICE, INCLUDING,
17 WITHOUT LIMITATION, A TOLL RESELLER, TO TRANSFER THE {CALLING CARD}
18 ACCOUNT OF A RESIDENTIAL OR SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMER TO ANOTHER
19 PROVIDER OF TOLL SERVICE OR TO ANOTHER BILLING PLAN OFFERED BY
20 THE SAME PROVIDER THAT INCLUDES TOLL SERVICE UNLESS ONE OF THE
21 FOLLOWING CONDITIONS IS MET:
22 (a) IF THE CUSTOMER WAS PREVIOUSLY ISSUED A "CALLING CARD"
23 OR SIMILAR DEVICE TO FACILITATE THE USE OF THE PROVIDER'S TOLL
24 SERVICE, THE PREVIOUSLY ISSUED CARD OR DEVICE IS SURRENDERED OR
25 DISABLED AND REPLACED WITH A NEW CARD OR DEVICE THAT IS
26 CONSPICUOUSLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OLD CARD OR DEVICE AND THAT
Page 3
1 USES A DIFFERENT ACCOUNT NUMBER; OR
2 (b) THE CUSTOMER HAS SIGNED AND RETURNED A WRITTEN
3 WAIVER, PRINTED IN NO LESS THAN TEN-POINT, BOLD-FACED TYPE,
4 STATING AS FOLLOWS:
5 WAIVER OF RIGHTS
6 I UNDERSTAND THAT MY LONG-DISTANCE
7 ACCOUNT CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER
8 COMPANY OR BILLING PLAN UNLESS:
9 (a) MY EXISTING CALLING CARD AND ACCOUNT
10 NUMBER ARE CANCELED AND REPLACED WITH A NEW
11 CARD AND A NEW ACCOUNT NUMBER; OR
12 (b) I WAIVE MY RIGHT TO RECEIVE A NEW CARD
13 AND ACCOUNT NUMBER.
14 BY SIGNING BELOW, I WAIVE MY RIGHT TO
15 RECEIVE A NEW CARD AND ACCOUNT NUMBER IN
16 CONNECTION WITH THIS TRANSFER OF MY ACCOUNT.
17 THIS WAIVER APPLIES ONLY TO THIS TRANSFER AND NOT
18 TO ANY FUTURE TRANSFERS. I UNDERSTAND THAT AFTER
19 THIS TRANSFER, I WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT
20 BILLING RULES AND POSSIBLY HIGHER LONG-DISTANCE
21 CHARGES, DEPENDING ON WHO, WHEN, AND WHERE I
22 CALL.
23 SIGNED _______________________
24 (ACCOUNT NO. __________________)
25 (3) A PROVIDER WHO VIOLATES THIS SECTION IS LIABLE:
26 (a) TO THE CUSTOMER, THE CUSTOMER'S PREVIOUSLY SELECTED
Page 4
1 PROVIDER, OR BOTH, AS DETERMINED BY THE COMMISSION, FOR THE
2 GREATER OF:
3 (I) TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS; OR
4 (II) ALL INTRASTATE LONG-DISTANCE CHARGES, INTERSTATE
5 LONG-DISTANCE CHARGES, LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE CHARGES, PROVIDER
6 SWITCHING FEES, THE VALUE OF ANY PREMIUMS OR SPECIAL DISCOUNTS TO
7 WHICH THE CUSTOMER WOULD HAVE BEEN ENTITLED,{
8
} AND OTHER
9 RELEVANT CHARGES INCURRED BY THE CUSTOMER DURING THE PERIOD OF
10 THE VIOLATION; AND
11 (b) TO THE CUSTOMER'S LOCAL EXCHANGE PROVIDER FOR THE
12 CHANGE FEES FOR ANY CHANGE MADE IN VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION AND
13 FOR EITHER REINSTATING THE CUSTOMER TO THE ORIGINAL PROVIDER OR
14 BILLING PLAN OR CHANGING TO ANOTHER BILLING PLAN SELECTED BY THE
15 CUSTOMER.
16 SECTION 2. 40-15-302.5 (3), Colorado Revised Statutes, is
17 amended to read:
18 40-15-302.5. Resellers of toll services - registration required.
19 (3) For the purpose of enforcing section 40-15-112 SECTIONS 40-15-112
20 AND 40-15-113, the commission may exercise any of the powers conferred
21 under articles 1 to 7 of this title against a toll reseller and, in cases of
22 complaints filed under section 40-6-108, may order a toll reseller to make
23 due reparations to the complaining party.
24 SECTION 3. Effective date - applicability. This act shall take
25 effect July 1, 1999, and shall apply to contracts for toll service entered
26 into or renewed on or after said date.
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1 SECTION 4. Safety clause. The general assembly hereby finds,
2 determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate
3 preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.