2889.9
. (a) No person or corporation shall misrepresent its
association or affiliation with a telephone carrier when soliciting,
inducing, or otherwise implementing the subscriber's agreement to
purchase the products or services of the person or corporation, and
have the charge for the product or service appear on the subscriber's
telephone bill.
(b) The provisions of Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2100) of
Part 1 of Division 1 apply to a public utility subject to this
section and Section 2890. If the commission finds that a person or
corporation or its billing agent that is a nonpublic utility, and is
subject to the provisions of this section and Section 2890, has
violated any requirement of this article, or knowingly provided false
information to the commission on matters subject to this section and
Section 2890, the commission may enforce Sections 2102, 2103, 2104,
2105, 2106, 2107, 2108, 2109, 2110, 2111, and 2114 against those
persons, corporations, and billing agents as if the persons,
corporations, or billing agents were a public utility. Neither this
authority nor any other provision of this article grants the
commission jurisdiction to regulate persons or corporations or their
billing agents who are not otherwise subject to commission
regulation, other than as specifically set forth in this section and
Section 2890.
(c) If the commission finds that a person, corporation, or billing
agent is operating in violation of any provision of this section and
Section 2890, the commission may order the billing telephone company
to terminate the billing and collection services for that person,
corporation, or billing agent. Nothing in this section and Section
2890 precludes a billing telephone company from taking action on its
own to terminate billing and collection services.
(d) The commission shall establish rules that require each billing
telephone company, billing agent, and company that provides products
or services that are charged on subscribers' telephone bills, to
provide the commission with reports of complaints made by subscribers
regarding the billing for products or services that are charged on
their telephone bills as a result of the billing and collection
services that the billing telephone company provides to third
parties, including affiliates of the billing telephone company.
(e) If the commission receives more than 100 complaints regarding
unauthorized telephone charges in any 90-day period as to a person,
corporation, or billing agent's activities that are subject to
Section 2890 and this section, the commission's consumer services
division shall commence a formal or informal investigation. The
commission, to further the purposes of Section 2890 and this section,
may change the number of complaints in any 90-day period that
initiates the commencement of an investigation. This subdivision does
not prohibit the commission's consumer services division from
opening any investigation it deems necessary to enforce Section 2890
or this section.
(f) Failure by a person, corporation, or billing agent to respond
to commission staff requests for information is grounds for the
commission to order the billing telephone company or companies that
are providing billing and collection services to cease billing and
collection services for the person, corporation, or billing agent.
(g) Persons or corporations originating charges for products or
services, their billing agents, and telephone corporations billing
for these products or services shall cooperate with the commission in
the commission's efforts to enforce the provisions of this article.
(h) This section and Section 2890 do not obligate a billing
telephone company to provide billing and collection services to a
billing agent.
(i) The commission may adopt rules, regulations and issue
decisions and orders, as necessary, to safeguard the rights of
consumers and to enforce the provisions of this article.
(j) For the purposes of this section, "billing agent" means the
clearinghouse or billing aggregator.