Full Text of SB1421 96th General Assembly
SB1421ham002 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Rep. John E. Bradley
Filed: 5/31/2009
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| AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1421
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1421, AS AMENDED, | 3 |
| by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the | 4 |
| following:
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| "Section 5. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business | 6 |
| Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2HHH as follows: | 7 |
| (815 ILCS 505/2HHH new)
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| Sec. 2HHH. Authorization and verification for product and | 9 |
| service charges to be billed on a telephone bill. | 10 |
| (a) Definitions.
For purposes of this Section: | 11 |
| "Billing agent" means any entity that submits charges to | 12 |
| the billing carrier on behalf of itself or any service | 13 |
| provider. | 14 |
| "Billing carrier" means any telecommunications carrier, as | 15 |
| defined in Section 13-202 of the Public Utilities Act, that | 16 |
| issues a bill directly to a customer for any product or service |
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| not provided by a telecommunications carrier. | 2 |
| "Service provider" means any entity that offers a product | 3 |
| or service to a consumer and that directly or indirectly | 4 |
| charges to or collects from a consumer's bill received from a | 5 |
| billing carrier an amount for the product or service. | 6 |
| (b) This Section does not apply to the provision of | 7 |
| services and products by a telecommunications carrier subject | 8 |
| to the provisions of Section 13-903 of the Public Utilities | 9 |
| Act, by a telecommunications carrier's affiliates, or an | 10 |
| affiliated cable or video provider, as that term is defined in | 11 |
| Section 22-501 of the Public Utilities Act, or by a provider of | 12 |
| public mobile services, as defined in Section 13-214 of the | 13 |
| Public Utilities Act. | 14 |
| (c) Requirements for submitting charges. | 15 |
| (1) A service provider or billing agent may submit | 16 |
| charges for a product or service to be billed on a | 17 |
| consumer's telephone bill on or after the effective date of | 18 |
| this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly only if: | 19 |
| (A) the service provider offering the product or | 20 |
| service has clearly and conspicuously disclosed all | 21 |
| material terms and conditions of the product or service | 22 |
| being offered, including, but not limited to, all | 23 |
| charges; and the fact that the charges for the product | 24 |
| or service shall appear on the consumer's telephone | 25 |
| bill; | 26 |
| (B) after the clear and conspicuous disclosure of |
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| all material terms and conditions as described in | 2 |
| paragraph (A) of this item (1), the consumer has | 3 |
| expressly consented to obtain the product or service | 4 |
| offered and to have the charges appear on the | 5 |
| consumer's telephone bill and the consent has been | 6 |
| verified as provided in item (2) of this subsection | 7 |
| (c); | 8 |
| (C) the service provider offering the product or | 9 |
| service or any billing agent for the service provider | 10 |
| has provided the consumer with a toll-free telephone | 11 |
| number the consumer may call and an address to which | 12 |
| the consumer may write to resolve any billing dispute | 13 |
| and to answer questions; and | 14 |
| (D) the service provider offering the product or | 15 |
| service or the billing agent has taken effective steps | 16 |
| to determine that the consumer who purportedly | 17 |
| consented to obtain the product or service offered is | 18 |
| authorized to incur charges for the telephone number to | 19 |
| be billed. | 20 |
| (2) The consumer consent required by item (1) of this | 21 |
| subsection (c) must be verified by the service provider | 22 |
| offering the product or service before any charges are | 23 |
| submitted for billing on a consumer's telephone bill. A | 24 |
| record of the consumer consent and verification must be | 25 |
| maintained by the service provider offering the product or | 26 |
| service for a period of at least 24 months immediately |
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| after the consent and verification have been obtained. The | 2 |
| method of obtaining consumer consent and verification must | 3 |
| include one or more of the following: | 4 |
| (A) A writing signed and dated by the consumer to | 5 |
| be billed that clearly and conspicuously discloses the | 6 |
| material terms and conditions of the product or service | 7 |
| being offered in accordance with paragraph (A) of item | 8 |
| (1) of this subsection (c) and clearly and | 9 |
| conspicuously states that the consumer expressly | 10 |
| consents to be billed in accordance with paragraph (B) | 11 |
| of item (1) of this subsection (c) as follows: | 12 |
| (i) if the writing is in electronic form, then | 13 |
| it shall contain the consumer disclosures required | 14 |
| by Section 101(c) of the federal Electronic | 15 |
| Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act; | 16 |
| and | 17 |
| (ii) the writing shall be a separate document | 18 |
| or easily separable document or located on a | 19 |
| separate screen or webpage containing only the | 20 |
| disclosures and consent described in item (1) of | 21 |
| this subsection (c). | 22 |
| (B) Third party verification by an independent | 23 |
| third party that: | 24 |
| (i) clearly and conspicuously discloses to the | 25 |
| consumer to be billed all of the information | 26 |
| required by paragraph (A) of item (1) of this |
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| subsection (c); | 2 |
| (ii) operates from a facility physically | 3 |
| separate from that of the service provider | 4 |
| offering the product or service; | 5 |
| (iii) is not directly or indirectly managed, | 6 |
| controlled, directed, or owned wholly or in part by | 7 |
| the service provider offering the product or | 8 |
| service; | 9 |
| (iv) does not derive commissions or | 10 |
| compensation based upon the number of sales | 11 |
| confirmed; | 12 |
| (v) tape records the entire verification | 13 |
| process, with prior consent of the consumer to be | 14 |
| billed; and | 15 |
| (vi) obtains confirmation from the consumer to | 16 |
| be billed that he or she authorized the purchase of | 17 |
| the offered good or service. | 18 |
| (C) All verifications must be conducted in the same | 19 |
| language that was used in the underlying sales | 20 |
| transaction. | 21 |
| (3) Unless verification is required by federal law or | 22 |
| rules implementing federal law, item (2) of this subsection | 23 |
| (c) does not apply to customer-initiated transactions with | 24 |
| a certificated telecommunications carrier for which the | 25 |
| service provider has the appropriate documentation. | 26 |
| (4) This Section does not apply to message |
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| telecommunications service charges that are initiated by | 2 |
| dialing 1+, 0+, 0-, 1010XXX, or collect calls and charges | 3 |
| for video services if the service provider has the | 4 |
| necessary records to establish the billing for the call or | 5 |
| service. | 6 |
| (d) Records of disputed charges. | 7 |
| (1) Every service provider or billing agent shall | 8 |
| maintain records of every disputed charge for a product or | 9 |
| service placed on a consumer's bill. | 10 |
| (2) The record required under this subsection (d) shall | 11 |
| contain for every disputed charge all of the following: | 12 |
| (A) any affected telephone numbers and, if | 13 |
| available, addresses; | 14 |
| (B) the date the consumer requested that the | 15 |
| disputed charge be removed from the consumer's bill; | 16 |
| (C) the date the disputed charge was removed from | 17 |
| the consumer's telephone bill; and | 18 |
| (D) the date action was taken to refund or credit | 19 |
| to the consumer any money that the consumer paid for | 20 |
| the disputed charges. | 21 |
| (3) The record required by this subsection (d) shall be | 22 |
| maintained for at least 24 months. | 23 |
| (e) Billing agents shall take reasonable steps designed to | 24 |
| ensure that service providers on whose behalf they submit | 25 |
| charges to a billing carrier comply with the requirements of | 26 |
| this Section. |
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| (f) Any service provider or billing agent who violates this | 2 |
| Section commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of this | 3 |
| Act.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 5 |
| becoming law.".
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