Oklahoma is on the way to becoming the first state to prohibit telemarketers from making "dead calls" to consumers.
Dead calls result when companies, using automatic dialing equipment, call more than one person at a time. The first person to answer hears a sales pitch, while the other people hear nothing.
On Tuesday, the Energy and Utility Regulation committee of the Oklahoma House of Representatives endorsed the first known bill in the nation to ban the practice.
The legislation, HB-2837, would amend both the state's telemarketing and consumer protection laws.
Telemarketers would be prohibited from using "equipment, systems or procedures that automatically dial and engage the telephone number of more than one person at a time but allow only one line at a time to be connected to the telemarketer," the legislation states.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Fred Perry (R-Tulsa), says that computer software is available that could reduce the number of dead telemarketing calls to consumers. But industry sources object to the legislation.
"We think this is a wrong-headed approach," said Matt Mattingley, director of government affairs for the American Teleservices Association. "I've never seen anything more than anecdotal evidence that this is anything more than an occasional problem."
To combat this, Mattingley proposed easing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to allow pre-recorded messages to announce when a telemarketer has called and that he or she would try again later.
Violators face civil penalties of between $2,000 and $10,000 per incident. They could also be hit with criminal charges.
A criminal conviction could result in a prison term of up to 10 years and a fine of not more than $5,000 for each violation.
The full House is expected to vote on the measure within the 30 days.
