(a)
The Legislature finds and declares that advertisement and use of telephone service are essential for household goods carriers to obtain business and conduct intrastate moving services. The unlawful advertisement by unpermitted household goods carriers has required properly permitted and regulated household goods carriers to compete with unpermitted household goods carriers using unfair business practices. Unpermitted household goods carriers have also exposed citizens of the State of California to unscrupulous persons who portray themselves as properly permitted, qualified, and insured household goods carriers. Many of these unpermitted household goods carriers have been found to have perpetrated acts of theft, fraud, and dishonesty upon
unsuspecting citizens of the State of California.
(b)
(1)The Legislature finds and declares that the termination of telephone service utilized by unpermitted household goods carriers is essential to ensure the public safety and welfare. Therefore, the commission should take enforcement action as specified in this section to disconnect telephone service of unpermitted household goods carriers who unlawfully advertise moving services in yellow page directories and other publications. The enforcement action provided for by this section is consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court of the State of California in Goldin, et al. v. Public Utilities Commission et al., (1979) 23 Cal.3d 638.
(2)
Notwithstanding Section 2891, for purposes of this section, a telephone utility, or a corporation that holds a controlling interest in the telephone utility, or any
business that is a subsidiary or affiliate of the telephone utility, that has the name and address of the subscriber to a telephone number being used by an unpermitted household goods carrier shall provide the commission, or an authorized official of the commission, upon demand, and the order of a magistrate, access to this information. A magistrate may only issue an order, for the purposes of this subdivision, when the magistrate has made the findings required by subdivision (c).
(c)
Any telephone utility operating under the jurisdiction of the commission shall refuse telephone service to a new customer and shall disconnect telephone service of an existing customer only after it is shown that other available enforcement remedies of the commission have failed to terminate unlawful activities detrimental to the public welfare and safety, and upon receipt from any authorized official of the commission of a writing, signed by a magistrate, as
defined by Sections 807 and 808 of the Penal Code, finding that probable cause exists to believe that the customer is advertising or holding out to the public to perform, or is performing, household goods carrier services without having in force a permit issued by the commission authorizing those services, or that the telephone service otherwise is being used or is to be used as an instrumentality, directly or indirectly, to violate or to assist in violation of the laws requiring a household goods carrier permit. Included in the writing of the magistrate shall be a finding that there is probable cause to believe that the subject telephone facilities have been or are to be used in the commission or facilitation of holding out to the public to perform, or in performing, household goods carrier services without having in force a permit issued by the commission authorizing those services, and that, absent immediate and summary action, a danger to public welfare or safety will result.
(d)
Any person aggrieved by any action taken pursuant to this section shall have the right to file a complaint with the commission and may include therein a request for interim relief. The commission shall schedule a public hearing on the complaint to be held within 21 calendar days of the filing and assignment of a docket number to the complaint. The remedy provided by this section shall be exclusive. No other action at law or in equity shall accrue against any telephone utility because of, or as a result of, any matter or thing done or threatened to be done pursuant to this section.
(e)
At any hearing on complaint pursuant to subdivision (d), the commission staff shall have the right to participate, including the right to present evidence and argument and to present and cross-examine witnesses. The commission staff shall have both the burden of providing that the use made or to be
made of the telephone service is to hold out to the public to perform, or to assist in performing, services as a household goods carrier, or that the telephone service is being or is to be used as an instrumentality, directly or indirectly, to violate or to assist in violation of the licensing laws as applicable to household goods carriers and that the character of the acts is such that, absent immediate and summary action, a danger to public welfare or safety will result, and the burden of persuading the commission that the telephone services should be refused or should not be restored.
(f)
The telephone utility, immediately upon refusal or disconnection of service in accordance with subdivision (c), shall notify the customer or subscriber in writing that the refusal or disconnection of telephone service has been made pursuant to a request of the commission and the writing of a magistrate, and shall include with the notice a copy of this
section, a copy of the writing of the magistrate, and a statement that the customer or subscriber may request information from the commission at its San Francisco or Los Angeles office concerning any provision of this section and the manner in which a complaint may be filed.
(g)
Each contract for telephone service, by operation of law, shall be deemed to contain the provisions of this section. The provisions shall be deemed to be a part of any application for telephone service. Applicants and customers for telephone service shall be deemed to have consented to the provisions of this section as a consideration for the furnishing of the service.
(h)
The terms “person,” “customer,” and “subscriber,” as used in this section, include a subscriber to telephone service, an applicant for that service, a corporation, a company, a partnership, an association, and an individual.
(i)
The term “telephone utility,” as used in this section, includes a “telephone corporation” and a “telegraph corporation,” as defined in Division 1 (commencing with Section 201).
(j)
The term “authorized official,” as used in this section, includes the Executive Director of the Public Utilities Commission or any commission employee designated pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 830.11 of the Penal Code.