Whereas, it is necessary that the State immediately prohibit misleading and abusive market practices affecting telecommunications consumers; and

Whereas, the Public Utilities Commission currently lacks authority to take effective consumer protection measures to protect Maine telecommunications consumers; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §§7107 and 7108 are enacted to read:

§7107.__Unauthorized services

1.__Definition.__For the purposes of this section, "unauthorized service" means the provision of any service or product that a consumer has not authorized and for which a charge is billed on a telephone bill.

2.__Procedure upon complaint.__If a customer of a telephone utility claims that a charge for an unauthorized service has been included in the customer's telephone bill, the telephone utility shall immediately suspend collection efforts on that portion of the customer's bill.__The telephone utility shall either cease collection efforts entirely with regard to the disputed charge or request verification from the service provider that the customer authorized the service for which payment is sought.__If the telephone utility ceases collection efforts or sufficient verification is not presented to the telephone utility within a reasonable time, to be established by commission rule, the telephone utility shall immediately remove any charges associated with the unauthorized service from the customer's bill and refund to the customer any amounts paid for the service on prior telephone bills.__If sufficient verification is provided to the telephone utility, the telephone utility may restore the charges on the customer's bill and reinstitute collection efforts.__The customer or the provider of the service may appeal the telephone utility's determination to the commission.