H. B. 2454


(By Delegates Yeager, Kominar and Cann)
[Introduced January 20, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




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, relating to changing the hours for residence telemarketing from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and placing the burden on telemarketers to demonstrate that it had created procedures to avoid violating the ban on calls to persons who have previously requested no calls be made.

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 to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 6F. TELEMARKETING.
PART VI. ABUSIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES; PENALTIES.

§46A-6F-601. Abusive acts or practices.
(a) It is an abusive telemarketing act or practice and a violation of this act 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 nine a.m. and nine five 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.
(b) A telemarketer will not be liable for violating subdivision (3), subsection (a) of this section if it can demonstrate that:
(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.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to shorten the hours for residence phone calls from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and require, when a complaint occurs, that the telemarketer must demonstrate it had provided procedures to avoid violating the ban on making calls to persons who had previously requested that they receive no calls.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.