Legislation establishing the first national telemarketing do-not-call list was introduced last Thursday by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT).
The Telemarketing Relief Act (HB-3911) was introduced less than two months after the Federal Trade Commission said it was planning to administratively modify its Telemarketing Sales Rule to establish its own national do-not-call list. The FTC announced its intention on Jan. 22.
Johnson’s measure, which substitutes law for the FTC’s plan, assigns the job of developing and maintaining a national telemarketing do-not-call list to the FTC.
At the same time it directs the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and the National Credit Union Administration Board to create their own do-not-call lists for inclusion in the FTC’s list.
While the bill exempts the FCC from providing the FTC with a copy of its do-not-call list, it allows charitable, political opinion and other nonprofit groups to call consumers on the list. Telemarketers could still call individuals on the list if they have a prior business relationship, are asked to call, or in connection with a debt collection. Business-to-business calls are also exempt under the bill.
The Direct Marketing Association doesn’t support the bill.
“We don’t think the government should have a national do-not-call list as the DMA already has one that has existed since 1985,” said Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs.
A growing number of states have either established, or plan to create, do-not-call list programs.
Johnson’s bill appears not to supercede those laws, but creates a “51st list that telemarketers would have to look at while adding another layer of expense for them,” Cerasale said.
Johnson, who modeled her bill after Connecticut’s 15-month old do-not-call list law, said in a statement that her bill would give consumers “a choice” of deciding whether they want to receive telemarketing calls or not.
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