Senate Bill No. 230
(By Senators Hunter, Caldwell, Rowe, Burnette, Redd, Helmick,
Edgell, Kessler, Unger and Sprouse)
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[Introduced February 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section six hundred one, article six-f,
chapter forty-six-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
six hundred two, all relating to telemarketing; providing for
a do-not-call list; and including calling a number on the
do-not-call list as an abusive telemarketing act or practice.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six hundred one, article six-f, chapter
forty-six-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by adding thereto a new section,
designated section six hundred two, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6F. TELEMARKETING.
PART VI. ABUSIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES; DO-NOT-CALL LIST.
§46A-6F-601. Abusive acts or practices.
(a) It is an abusive telemarketing act or practice and a
violation of this article for any telemarketer to engage in the
following conduct:
(1) Threaten, intimidate or use profane or obscene language;
(2) Engage any person repeatedly or continuously with behavior
a reasonable person would deem consider to be annoying, abusive or
harassing;
(3) Initiate an outbound telephone call to a person when that
person previously has stated that he or she does not wish to
receive an outbound telephone call made by or on behalf of the
telemarketer whose goods or services are being offered;
(4) Engage in telemarketing to a person's residence at any
time other than between eight a.m. and nine p.m. local time, Monday
through Sunday, at the called person's location; or
(5) Engage in any other conduct which would be considered
abusive to any reasonable consumer; or
(6) Initiate an outbound telephone call to any residential, mobile, or telephonic paging device telephone number if the number
for that telephone or device appears in the then-current quarterly
do-not-call listing published by the division: Provided, That a
telemarketer may show by submitting a copy of a then-current
quarterly do-not-call list published by the division that a call
was made in error because the person's name had not yet appeared on
the current do-not-call list and that the telemarketer was a
regular subscriber to these lists.
(b) A telemarketer will is not be liable for violating
subdivision (3), subsection (a) of this section if:
(1) It has established and implemented written procedures to
avoid outbound telephone calls to persons who have previously
stated that they do not wish to receive such calls;
(2) It has trained its personnel in the procedures established
pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(3) The telemarketer has maintained and recorded lists of
persons who have previously stated that they do not wish to receive
such calls; and
(4) Any subsequent call is the result of error.
§46A-6F-602. Do-not-call list.
(a) The division shall maintain a do-not-call list. A residential, mobile, or telephonic paging device telephone
subscriber desiring to be placed on the state do-not-call list
indicating that the subscriber does not wish to receive unsolicited
telephonic sales calls may notify the division and shall be placed
on the list by the division at no cost to that subscriber. The
subscriber shall remain on the do-not-call list unless the
subscriber notifies the division to remove that subscriber's name
from the list.
(b) The division shall update its do-not-call list quarterly.
The division shall provide the list for a fee of two hundred
dollars for each such list to telemarketers upon request. The
division may establish additional fees for the quarterly updates of
the do-not-call list. All fees collected pursuant to this section
shall be deposited in a special fund in the state treasury
designated the do-not-call list fund, which is hereby created. The
fund may only be used for the administration of this section.
(c) Any telemarketer or other person who offers for sale any
consumer information which includes residential, mobile or
telephonic paging device telephone numbers, except directory
assistance and telephone directories sold by telephone companies
shall screen and exclude those numbers which appear on the division's then-current do-not-call list.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a state
do-not-call list by which individuals may indicate that they do not
wish to receive unsolicited telephonic sales calls. The bill also
includes calling a number on the do-not-call list as an abusive
telemarketing act or practice.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§46A-6F-602 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.