BILL NUMBER: AB 746	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 30, 2005
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 25, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 23, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 5, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 2, 2005
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 19, 2005
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 6, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blakeslee

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2005

   An act to amend Section 1748.1 of the Civil Code, and to add
Section 755 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to public
utilities.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 746, Blakeslee  Public utilities: payment of billings.
   Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to
supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including
electrical, gas, or water corporations. Existing law authorizes the
commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to
control by the Legislature. Existing law authorizes the commission to
fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires
that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.
   Existing law prohibits any retailer in a sales, service, or lease
transaction with a consumer, from imposing a surcharge on a
cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by
cash, check, or similar means.
   This bill would require the commission to authorize an electrical,
gas, or water corporation to offer credit card and debit card bill
payment options. The bill would authorize an electrical, gas, or
water corporation to recover reasonable transaction costs incurred by
the electrical, gas, or water corporation from those customers that
choose to pay by those payment options. The bill would require the
commission to determine the reasonableness of transaction costs
charged to customers that choose to pay by a credit card or debit
card bill payment option. The bill would require the commission to
determine how any associated costs or potential savings as a result
of customers choosing to pay by a credit card or debit card bill
payment option shall be passed on to electrical, gas, or water
corporation customers.
   The bill would exclude from the existing prohibition upon a
retailer imposing a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a
credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check, or similar means, a
charge by an electrical, gas, or water corporation that is approved
by the commission pursuant to the provisions that would be added by
this bill.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1748.1 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   1748.1.  (a) No retailer in any sales, service, or lease
transaction with a consumer may impose a surcharge on a cardholder
who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check, or
similar means. A retailer may, however, offer discounts for the
purpose of inducing payment by cash, check, or other means not
involving the use of a credit card, provided that the discount is
offered to all prospective buyers.
   (b) Any retailer who willfully violates this section by imposing a
surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card and who
fails to pay that amount to the cardholder within 30 days of a
written demand by the cardholder to the retailer by certified mail,
shall be liable to the cardholder for three times the amount at which
actual damages are assessed. The cardholder shall also be entitled
to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in the
action.
   A cause of action under this section may be brought in small
claims court, if it does not exceed the jurisdiction of that court,
or in any other appropriate court.
   (c) A consumer shall not be deemed to have elected to use a credit
card in lieu of another means of payment for purposes of this
section in a transaction with a retailer if only credit cards are
accepted by that retailer in payment for an order made by a consumer
over a telephone, and only cash is accepted at a public store or
other facility of the same retailer.
   (d) Charges for third-party credit card guarantee services, when
added to the price charged by the retailer if cash were to be paid,
shall be deemed surcharges for purposes of this section even if they
are payable directly to the third party or are charged separately.
   (e) It is the intent of the Legislature to promote the effective
operation of the free market and protect consumers from deceptive
price increases for goods and services by prohibiting credit card
surcharges and encouraging the availability of discounts by those
retailers who wish to offer a lower price for goods and services
purchased by some form of payment other than credit card.
   (f) This section does not apply to charges for payment by credit
card or debit card that are made by an electrical, gas, or water
corporation and approved by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant
to Section 755 of the Public Utilities Code.
  SEC. 2.  Section 755 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   755.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that:
   (1) An electrical, gas, or water corporation that offers customers
credit card or debit card payment options, may recover the
reasonable expenses incurred by the electrical, gas, or water
corporation for providing the customers the option of paying their
bills by credit card or debit card.
   (2) Only the customers that choose to use these payment options
incur the additional charge and that no portion of the expense is
shifted to customers that do not choose to pay a bill by credit card
or debit card, unless and until the commission determines that the
savings to ratepayers exceeds the net cost of accepting those cards.

   (3) The acceptance of credit cards or debit cards neither
increases nor decreases the profitability of the electrical, gas, or
water corporation.
   (b) An electrical, gas, or water corporation may offer credit card
and debit card bill payment options, if approved by the commission.
The electrical, gas, or water corporation may recover reasonable
transaction costs incurred by the electrical, gas, or water
corporation only from those customers that choose to pay by those
payment options.
   (c) The commission shall determine through existing regulatory
mechanisms the reasonableness of transaction costs charged to
customers that choose to pay an electrical, gas, or water corporation
by a credit card or debit card bill payment option pursuant to this
section. The commission shall determine how any associated costs or
potential savings as a result of those customers paying by the credit
card or debit card payment option shall be passed on to electrical,
gas, or water corporation customers. In determining how these savings
or costs are passed on to customers, the commission shall do the
following:
   (1) The transaction costs that are passed on to customers pursuant
to subdivision (b) shall be offset by any savings in transaction
costs the electrical, gas, or water corporation derives as a result
of those customers paying by credit card and debit card.
   (2) If the commission determines that the use of credit cards and
debit cards results in no net cost to the electrical, gas, or water
corporation, there shall be no individual customer transaction fee as
provided for in subdivision (b).
   (3) If the commission determines that the savings to the
electrical, gas, or water corporation exceeds the costs to the
electrical, gas, or water corporation, the net savings shall be
passed on to electrical, gas, or water corporation customers.