HB 765 -- Missouri Wireless Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Sponsor:  Grill

This bill establishes the Missouri Wireless Telephone Consumer
Protection Act.  In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Requires wireless telecommunications carriers at the time of
sale to provide a coverage map; conspicuously disclose the price
and all charges for the service including any amount charged for
long distance calls, activation fees, access charges, roaming
charges, and additional minutes; and conspicuously disclose early
termination fees and contract provisions related to possible
price changes;

(2)  Requires the Attorney General within 180 days of the
effective date of the bill to adopt rules and regulations
requiring that any publication, including any publication on the
Internet, of any wireless carrier specify in plain language
information on all charges, all information related to the
treatment of minutes in any plan, all contract and fee
information, and any information concerning early termination or
price changes;

(3)  Requires carriers to provide bills to customers specifying
in plain language the products and service charges and requires
bills to conform with formats established by the Attorney
General;

(4)  Requires a carrier to provide, upon request, an itemized
bill to a customer at no cost;

(5)  Requires bills for wireless services to list government-
mandated charges and taxes in a separate section;

(6)  Prohibits a carrier from including on a customer's bill any
charges for goods or services that the carrier bills on behalf of
a third party, unless the carrier obtained the customer's prior
consent to include those charges.  If disputed, a customer will
not be required to pay the charges unless the carrier can provide
evidence of the customer's authorization.  If the customer's
acceptance of a good, service, or promotion offered by the
carrier results in an extension of the contract term or the
creation of a new contract, the carrier must disclose this to the
customer at the time of acceptance; and

(7)  Specifies that any contract covered by these provisions will
be invalid and void if the carrier fails to comply with any
requirement related to disclosure of information.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:25 am