Senate Bill No. 24
(By Senators Hunter, Caldwell, Rowe, Burnette, Redd, Helmick,
Edgell, Kessler, Unger and Sprouse)
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[Introduced January 9, 2002; 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 listing published by the division.
(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.
(b) The division shall update its do-not-call list quarterly. The division shall provide the list for a fee of
two hundred dollars to telemarketers upon request. 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.