California Democrat State Senator Liz Figueroa agreed to expand the list of exceptions in a bill creating a state telemarketing do-not-call list to include small businesses with fewer than five employees.
She made the agreement Wednesday after a hearing on the legislation, SB-771, previously approved by the State Senate, by the Appropriations Committee of the General Assembly.
While a majority of the committee members said they supported the measure, cleared just a week earlier by the Assembly’s Committee on Business and Professions, a few said they felt the measure in its present form was not completely fair.
Among them was Democrat Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg who, while endorsing the bill’s intent, said she was afraid that the bill would thwart competition, particularly among utilities and small businesses, creating an advantage for one particular group over another.
Although she said that there were many other avenues for businesses to reach potential customers, such as direct mail and direct response print and broadcast ads, Figueroa said she would agree give small businesses with fewer than five employees a break and include them in the list of exceptions to the measure.
As the bill currently stands nonprofit and political organizations would be allowed to make calls to people on the do-not-call list, maintained by the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs. The exemption would also extend to businesses with an existing relationship to a consumer on the list. All others calling consumers on the list could be fined as much as $1,000 for each unwanted call.
Action on the bill by the full Assembly is expected within the next several weeks. Gov. Gray Davis has indicated that he will sign the measure into law when it reaches his desk.
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