H. B. 2944
(By Delegates Talbott, Pino,
Hartman and Browning)
[Introduced February 10, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article six-f, chapter forty-six-a of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one hundred fifteen, relating to a no telephone solicitation
contact (Do Not Call) list being maintained by the public
service commission; telephone subscribers/consumers not
wanting to receive telemarketing calls pay a modest fee to be
placed on the list; the public service commission creates the
"No Call" list for sale to telemarketers; and civil penalties
are imposed upon telemarketers who violate the statute.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six-f, chapter forty-six-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one
hundred fifteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6F. TELEMARKETING.
§46A-6F-115. The "Do Not Call" list; Legislative findings; public
service commission; rules; fees; penalties.
(a) The Legislature finds that there exists an increasing
growth in the number of telemarketer solicitation contacts with
consumers of this state and, despite recent legislation to remove
some of the most egregious annoyances, there remains a substantial
body of consumers who wish to receive no telephone solicitations at
all. The Legislature further finds that it is within the province
of the state to protect its citizens and their homes from unwanted
intrusions, including those prosecuted by telephone, and it
considers that implementing measures to interdict these unwanted
telephone calls would be for a public purpose. Having made these
findings, it is the purpose and the policy of the Legislature that:
(1) It confers upon the public service commission the
authority and duty to create, manage, maintain and enforce a
statewide database for a "Do Not Call" list or, in its discretion,
to contract with a private company to create and maintain the
database; to exercise that rule making authority necessary to prosecute its function as the state agency responsible for
assisting telephone subscribers desiring to be on the "Do Not Call"
list, establishing the fees within those amounts allowed under this
section for both consumers and telemarketers, creating, maintaining
and administering a "consumer protection" trust fund in which to
hold and manage the fees paid for the cost of maintaining the
database and other related expenses; and enforcing the penalty
provisions of this statute, all of which should be liberally
construed to protect the public's privacy rights; and
(b) That any residential, mobile or telephonic paging device
consumer desiring to be placed on a "Do not Call" list, indicating
that the consumer does not wish to receive telephone solicitations,
may be placed upon such list by notifying the public service
commission in writing and paying the public service commission an
initial list fee, which the public service commission may assess in
an amount up to ten dollars per consumer. The consumer's notice
shall be in a form approved by the public service commission and
the program will be maintained in the following manner:
(1) The consumer's listing shall be for a period of up to
three years, and may be renewed by the public service commission
for additional periods of up to three years each, if the consumer requests renewal and pays a renewal fee, which the public service
commission may assess in an amount up to five dollars per renewal;
(2) The first "Do Not Call" list shall be published on or
before the thirtieth day of October, two thousand three. The
public service commission shall thereafter update its "Do Not Call"
list quarterly and provide this list to telephone solicitors upon
request and receipt by the public service commission of a list
distribution fee, which the public service commission may charge in
an amount up to twenty-five dollars per list;
(3) All fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the consumer protection trust fund and shall be used
for the furtherance of the public service commission's duties and
activities under this section; and
(4) The "Do Not Call" lists are not subject to public
inspection or disclosure and may only be used for the purposes for
which they were created, including that the consumer protection
division of the office of the attorney general shall have access.
(c) Within thirty days after a new "Do Not Call" list has been
published by the public service commission, no telephone solicitor
shall make or cause to be made any telephone solicitation, as
defined in section one hundred twelve of this article, to any telephone number which is assigned by a telephone company to a
person listed on the "Do Not Call" list as appears in the then
current quarterly listing published by the public service
commission.
(d) Any violation of this section shall constitute an unfair
or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of subsection (f),
section one hundred two, article six of this chapter and shall
subject the person violating the terms of this section to a civil
penalty, to be imposed by the circuit court having jurisdiction
thereof, as follows: for the first violation, not to exceed five
hundred dollars; for the second violation, not to exceed two
thousand five hundred dollars; for the third and subsequent
violations, not to exceed five thousand dollars per violation.
Penalties received under this section shall be expended pursuant to
legislative appropriation.
(e) This section is not applicable to those telephone
solicitations set forth in sections two hundred one through two
hundred twenty of this article.
(f) For purposes of this section, "telephone company" means a
person providing telecommunications services to the public, or any
segment thereof, for compensation, by wire, cable, radio, lightwaves, cellular signal or other means. "Telecommunications
services" means the conveyance of voice, data, sign, signal,
writing, sound, messages or other information at any frequency over
any part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
(g) The public service commission, under its rule-making
power, shall require local telephone companies to notify consumers
annually of their right to be placed on the "Do Not Call" list.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide telephone
subscribers with a highly effective means of preventing the receipt
of telemarketing phone solicitations.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.