S. 562 (111th): Prepaid Calling Card Consumer Protection Act of 2009

Introduced:
Mar 10, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Sen. Bill Nelson [D-FL]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced on March 10, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Mar 10, 2009
Referred to Committee Mar 10, 2009
Cosponsors
2 cosponsors (1R, 1D) (show)
Committees

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to require accurate and reasonable disclosure of the terms and conditions of prepaid telephone calling cards and services, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Mar 10, 2009.
24 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

3/10/2009--Introduced.
Prepaid Calling Card Consumer Protection Act of 2009 - Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to require every prepaid telephone calling service provider and prepaid telephone calling card distributor to disclose certain information, including:
(1) the number of calling units or minutes of domestic interstate calls provided or the dollar value and the domestic interstate rate per minute;
(2) the calling unit or per minute rates for each served international preferred destination;
(3) the applicable per minute rates for each served international destination;
(4) other material terms and conditions, including regarding fees, policies on refunds, recharges, decrements, and expiration, and time imitations; and
(5) a toll-free customer service number and hours.
Makes it unlawful to:
(1) deduct anything but the per minute rate and disclosed fees;
(2) provide fewer minutes or charge a higher per minute rate than promoted or advertised;
(3) provide fewer minutes than the number of minutes announced, promoted, or advertised through any voice prompt;
(4) have an expiration date less than one year after first use (or after additional minutes are purchased);
(5) charge a fee for an unconnected call; and
(6) deduct a per-minute rate in an increment greater than one minute for calls that are less than one full minute (but allows deducting different destination-specific rates for each full minute of calling time in certain circumstances).
Prohibits avoiding liability by stating that the terms are subject to fees or charges.
Treats violations as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under specified provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from exercising any authority given to the FTC under this Act. Allows state civil enforcement and state laws offering greater protection to consumers.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

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