Brief(1)
Sub. for H.B. 2076 would authorize a cable television company to charge a subscriber a late payment fee. This fee must not exceed 5.0 percent of the amount of the monthly delinquent balance or $5 per month, whichever is greater. The cable television company must notify the subscriber in writing at least ten days before the fee is imposed. Such notice must specify the date after which the fee will be imposed if the balance is not paid and the amount of the fee to be imposed.
Background
H.B. 2076 was requested by the Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association (KCTA) and supported by Ron Marnell, Vice-President, Multimedia Cablevision, on behalf of KCTA. According to Mr. Marnell, cable television companies may currently assess delinquent payments on subscribers who do not pay their bills by the due date. Mr. Marnell explained that cable companies located in states not governed by express statutory authority to assess and collect cable delinquent fees have been subject to a number of class action lawsuits. He noted that the proposed bill would provide cable companies with this authority and would codify their right to recover some of their collection costs. There were no opponents to the bill.
The introduced version of the bill would have set a maximum late payment fee of $7.50, which could be changed annually by an amount equal to the statutorily-established percentage amount of change for interest on judgements (4 percent above the discount rate.) This fee would have been assessed on any aggregate delinquent balance exceeding $15.
The House Committee on Utilities recommended a substitute version of the bill which would require imposition of a fee for delinquent payment not to exceed 5 percent of the delinquent payment per month. The House Committee of the Whole further amended the bill to require an alternative delinquent payment fee of $5 per month if that amount proves be greater than the 5 percent assessment.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.