HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2735        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3130

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act prohibiting deceptive billing practices by cellular telephone service providers..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 12(d) of Chapter 159 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the words “telegraph line”, the following: “means of cellular telephone services”.

Section 12 of Chapter 159 is hereby amended by inserting after section 12(d) of said Chapter the following:

(e)  The department shall have jurisdiction over all wireless service providers doing business within the commonwealth.  Said department shall draft and promulgate regulations providing guidelines for billing practices to be established for said wireless service providers, including but not limited to (1) consumers are entitled to an itemized bill at no cost to the consumer; (2) design a bill in which government mandated taxes and provider surcharges appear separately; (3)label the separate columns “Government Fees and Taxes” and Provider Surcharges; (4) include a brief explanation of each line item surcharge for both government and private line item surcharges; and, (5) include all charges for a billing cycle on a single bill.