(a) The commission may by rule or order, partially or completely exempt certain telecommunications services offered by telephone and telegraph corporations from the certification requirements of Section 1001 and instead subject them to registration as the commission may determine. Telephone corporations that the commission determines have monopoly power or market power in a relevant market or markets shall have a certificate of public convenience and necessity and shall not be eligible for designation as registered telephone corporations. A telephone corporation that has been found not to have monopoly power or market power in a relevant market or markets by the commission shall be eligible for registration subject to the approval of the commission. A telephone corporation operating in this state shall either have a certificate of public convenience and necessity or be registered under this section or be a telephone corporation authorized to operate in California without a certificate of public convenience and necessity.
(b) Registered telephone corporations qualifying under this section shall maintain an active registration with the commission at all times and comply with commission rules and regulations established for registered telephone corporations qualifying under this section.
(c) The registration of registered telephone corporations qualifying under this section shall be on a form prescribed by the commission and shall contain any information the commission may by rule or order require, but shall include as a minimum the name and address of the telephone corporation’s registered agent, if any, the name, address, and title of each officer or director, and a description of the telecommunications services it offers or intends to offer.
(d) Prior to designating any telephone corporation for registration status, the commission shall adopt rules to do both of the following:
(1) Verify the financial viability of the corporation.
(2) Verify that the officers of the corporation have no prior history of committing fraud on the public.
(e) The commission shall require as a precondition to registration the procurement of a performance bond sufficient to cover taxes or fees, or both, collected from customers and held for remittance and advances or deposits the telecommunications company may collect from its customers, or order that those advances or deposits be held in escrow or trust.
(f) The commission may require, as a precondition to registration, the procurement of a performance bond sufficient to facilitate the collection of fines, penalties, and restitution related to enforcement actions that can be taken against a telecommunications company.
(g) The commission may, with or without a hearing, grant a telephone corporation registration status and an exemption from the certification requirements of Section 1001. However, upon timely application, any person entitled to be heard may file a protest on whether a telephone corporation should be eligible for registration status and the granting of an exemption from the certification requirement of Section 1001. Upon a determination that the protest has presented a prima facie case that a telephone corporation should not be granted registration status and an exemption from Section 1001, a hearing shall be held.
(h) The commission, after notice and a hearing if requested, may cancel, revoke, or suspend the registration of any telephone corporation upon any of the following grounds:
(1) The corporation does not provide the information required by this article.
(2) The corporation fails to provide or maintain a performance bond.
(3) The corporation conducts any illegal telephone operations.
(4) The corporation violates any of the applicable provisions of this code or of any regulations issued thereunder.
(5) The corporation violates any order, decision, rule, regulation, direction, demand, or requirement established by the commission under this code.
(6) The corporation fails to pay any fee or fine imposed upon the utility under this code.
(7) The corporation files a false statement to the commission.
(8) The corporation knowingly defrauds a customer.
(i) As an alternative to the cancellation, revocation, or suspension of a registration, the commission, after notice and a hearing, may impose upon the holder of the registration a fine in an amount not to exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for each offense, and order reparations and restitution to customers for each offense.
(j) Every violation of this section or any part of any order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, by any telephone corporation or person is a separate and distinct offense, and in case of a continuing violation each day’s continuance thereof shall be a separate and distinct offense.
(k) In construing and enforcing this section relating to penalties, the act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or employee of any registered telephone corporation qualifying under this section acting within the scope of his or her official duties or employment, shall in every case be the act, omission, or failure of the corporation. The commission may assess interest to commence upon the day the payment is delinquent. All fines, assessments, and interest collected shall be deposited at least once each month in the General Fund.
(l) Actions to enforce the decision of the commission ordering the payment of fines, reparations, or restitution under this section shall be brought in the name of the people of the State of California, in the superior court of the county, or city and county, in which the corporation complained of, if any, has its principal place of business, or in which the person, if any, complained of, resides or in which the commission has offices. The enforcement of a commission decision or order under this section shall be commenced and prosecuted to final judgment by the attorney of the commission.
(m) The provisions of this section do not apply to commercial mobile radio service.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 552, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2009.)