California § 2884.2 - Except as specified in subdivision (b), the billing and collection practices of a

§ 2884.2. Except as specified in subdivision (b), the billing and collection practices of a

(a) Except as specified in subdivision (b), the billing and collection practices of a telephone corporation for services rendered to or for an information service that contains harmful matter, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 313 of the Penal Code, are not subject to the jurisdiction and control of the commission, notwithstanding Section 2884, but are a matter for contractual arrangement between the telephone corporation and the information provider. (b) Nothing in subdivision (a) affects the commission’s jurisdiction over billing and collection for any other information service. (c) The commission may, on complaint or on its own motion, after a hearing, find and determine that circumstances including, but not limited to, anticompetitive results, require the exercise of jurisdiction and control by it over those matters removed from its jurisdiction and control by subdivision (a), and may then exercise that jurisdiction and control. (d) Subdivision (a) applies only to that class of information-access telephone service furnished within or between service areas, as defined in Section 230.3, through the use of either a “976” prefix or a “900” access code telephone number, and applies only to billing and collection services in that class of service. (e) The commission may investigate and consider, for purposes of establishing telephone rates, revenues and expenses related to any billing or collection services rendered by a telephone corporation to or for an information provider. (f) A telephone corporation shall, before refusing to provide billing and collection services for any information service, give the information provider of that service and the commission not less than 30 days’ advance notice. (g) If a telephone corporation elects to enter into a contractual arrangement to provide billing and collection services to an information provider, the telephone corporation shall provide those services to the information provider under the same terms, conditions, and rates that the service is offered to all other information providers contracting for the services. The telephone corporation shall provide copies of the contracts to the commission and, on request, to any other interested party. (h) Notwithstanding Section 17024 of the Business and Professions Code, billing and collection services described in subdivision (a) are services subject to Part 2 (commencing with Section 16600) of Division 7 of that code. A person or firm claiming a violation of Section 17045 of that code, with respect to those services, may proceed in accordance with Article 4 (commencing with Section 17070) of Chapter 4 of Part 2 of Division 7 of that code, or pursue any other remedy available under law.