SECTIONS 17550-17550.30 - California Statutes

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE

SECTION 17550-17550.30

17550. The Legislature finds and declares that certain advertising,
sales, and business practices of sellers of travel have worked
financial hardship upon the people of this state; that the travel
business has a significant impact upon the economy and well-being of
this state and its people; that problems have arisen that are
peculiar to sellers of travel business; and that the public welfare
requires regulation of sellers of travel in order to eliminate unfair
advertising, sales, and business practices; to establish standards
that will safeguard the people against financial hardship; to
encourage competition, fair dealing, and prosperity in the travel
business; and to provide certain and reliable funding for the seller
of travel registration program and enforcement by the office of the
Attorney General of this article.
It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article that
the Department of Justice, to the extent that resources are
available, work together with representatives of the affected
business community to develop sample forms that will, to the maximum
extent possible, enable sellers of travel to comply with the
requirement to provide to persons making payment the information
required by subdivision (c) and subdivisions (e) to (l), inclusive,
of Section 17550.13, in a manner that is simplified, efficient, and
nonduplicative, and in a manner that recognizes the particular
burdens and situations that may exist for small sellers of travel in
their efforts to comply with the provisions of that section.

17550.1. (a) "Seller of travel" means a person who sells, provides,
furnishes, contracts for, arranges, or advertises that he or she can
or may arrange, or has arranged, wholesale or retail , either of the
following:
(1) Air or sea transportation either separately or in conjunction
with other travel services.
(2) Land or water vessel transportation, other than sea carriage,
either separately or in conjunction with other travel services if the
total charge to the passenger exceeds three hundred dollars ($300).
(b) Seller of travel does not include any of the following:
(1) An air carrier.
(2) An ocean carrier.
(3) A hotel, motel, or similar lodging establishment where in the
course of selling, providing, furnishing, contracting for, or
arranging transient lodging accommodations and related services for
its registered guests, it also arranges for transportation and does
not directly or indirectly receive any money or other valuable
consideration for arranging or providing that transportation.
(4) A person or organization certified under Part 5 (commencing
with Section 12140) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code, except such
a person or organization shall comply with the registration and fee
provisions of Sections 17550.20 and 17550.21 for each location at
which air or sea transportation is sold either separately or in
conjunction with other travel services.
(5) A motor or rail carrier or water vessel operator holding the
required permit, license, or other authority to operate from a state,
federal, or other governmental entity.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a reference in
this article or Article 2.7 (commencing with Section 17550.35) to air
or sea transportation or to an air or sea carrier, includes land or
water vessel transportation, as described in subdivision (a), and a
motor carrier or water vessel operator.

17550.2. "Advertise" means to make any representation in the
solicitation of air or sea transportation, and includes communication
with other members of the same partnership, corporation, joint
venture, association, organization, group, or other entity.

17550.3. "Passenger" is a person on whose behalf money or other
consideration has been given or is to be given to another, including
another member of the same partnership, corporation, joint venture,
association, organization, group, or other entity, for air or sea
transportation, other travel services, or both, for that person.

17550.4. An air carrier is a transporter by air of persons that
operates under a certificate of convenience and necessity issued by
the United States Department of Transportation or under the
certification of a foreign government that is recognized by the
United States Department of Transportation.

17550.5. "Ticket or voucher" means a writing that is itself good
and sufficient to obtain the entire air or ocean transportation, or
travel services, which the passenger has purchased.

17550.6. "Officially appointed agent" means an agent expressly
appointed as such, without reservation, for a specified time period,
in a written instrument executed by the principal or an authorized
representative of the principal. The written instrument shall
identify the current name, address, and telephone numbers of the
principal and agent.

17550.7. "Participant in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund" is a
registered seller of travel with its principal place of business in
California, who does business with persons located in California, or
is a registered seller of travel that does business in California,
from one or more locations in California, and that meets the
requirements of paragraph (16) of subdivision (e) of Section 17511.1.

17550.8. "Provider" means the person or entity who actually
provides any transportation or travel services.

17550.9. "Travel services" includes, but is not limited to,
lodging, surface transportation, transfers, tours, meals, guides,
baggage transfer, sightseeing, recreational activities, vehicle
rental, or other travel-related services, however denominated,
including, but not limited to, travel certificates, registration
fees, and processing fees. "Travel services" does not include travel
services rendered by providers of lodging such as a hotel, motel, or
similar lodging establishment where the provider of lodging supplies
only that service.

17550.10. "Travel certificate" means a writing that represents the
holder is entitled to air or sea transportation or travel services,
to a discount or reduced price for that transportation or those
travel services, or to purchase that transportation or those travel
services from a specified source, whether or not the holder is
required to pay additional money or fulfill any requirements in order
to utilize the certificate.

17550.11. (a) "Adequate bond" means a bond executed by an admitted
surety insurer in an amount at all times no less than at least equal
to the amount required to be held in a trust account pursuant to
Section 17550.15 by any seller of travel in conjunction with such
transportation, for the benefit of every passenger who sustains a
monetary loss as a result of any violation of this article by a
seller of travel or any failure by a seller of travel or by any
official, agent, or employee of the seller of travel acting in the
course or scope of his or her employment or agency. A seller of
travel filing the bond shall maintain the bond in force in the proper
amount as a condition of continuing to engage in business. The
admitted surety insurer issuing the bond shall provide 30 days'
written notice prior to cancellation or termination of the bond to
the seller of travel filing the bond and the office of the Attorney
General, Consumer Law Section. Cancellation of the bond shall not
limit or exonerate the surety insurer from claims against the bond
arising during the period it was in force.
(b) No passenger may recover upon the bond a sum greater than that
which the passenger paid to the seller of travel, provided that this
limitation shall not restrict a passenger from recovering sums
greater than those paid to the seller of travel from sources other
than the bond.

17550.13. (a) (1) A seller of travel shall not receive any money or
other valuable consideration in payment for air or sea
transportation or other travel services offered by the seller of
travel unless at the time of or prior to the receipt of payment, the
seller of travel first furnishes to the person making that payment
written materials conspicuously setting forth the following
information:
(A) The name and business address and telephone number of the
seller of travel.
(B) The total amount to be paid by or on behalf of the passenger,
amount paid to date, the date of any future payment, the purpose of
the payment made, and an itemized statement of the balance due, if
any.
(C) The name of the provider of the air or sea transportation, and
the date, time, and place of each departure, or the circumstances
under which the date, time, and place of departure will be
determined.
(D) All terms and conditions relating to the air or sea
transportation or travel services being purchased by the passenger,
including cancellation conditions. An air carrier's or an ocean
carrier's standard contract of carriage is not required to be
disclosed prior to the seller of travel receiving any money or other
valuable consideration.
(E) A clear and conspicuous statement that upon cancellation of
the transportation or travel services, where the passenger is not at
fault and has not canceled in violation of any terms and conditions
previously clearly and conspicuously disclosed to and agreed to by
the passenger, all sums paid to the seller of travel for services not
provided will be promptly paid to the passenger, unless the
passenger otherwise advises the seller of travel in writing, after
cancellation.
(F) If the seller of travel is required by this article to have a
trust account or bond, a clear and conspicuous disclosure stating:
"California law requires certain sellers of travel to have a trust
account or bond. This business has