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Bill would restrict telemarketers

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Related stories:

• Don't call me! (September 5, 2002)
• Wisconsinites flock to No Call list (September 24, 2002)
• Don't call my cell phone, lawmaker demands (January 31, 2008)
• Federal government challenges No Call law (September 16, 2003)
• Two years later, Wisconsin No Call List remains popular (October 5, 2004)

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Telemarketers in Wisconsin may soon have trouble continuing business as usual. Should the currently pending bill, SB 40, carry through Conference Committee, state consumers will be able to place their names on a free “no-call” list for commercial telemarketers.

The list will prevent any telemarketer in Wisconsin from contacting an individual with his or her name on the list.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, proposed the bill after becoming personally concerned about how telemarketing calls disrupted family life.

“It’s not like when you get a piece of junk mail you have to walk away from the dinner table, you have to tell the kids to be quiet, you have to drop what you’re doing and open that letter right away,” Erpenbach said in a Wispolitics.com interview. “In other words, junk mail, you recognize it, you see it. Whereas a telephone call, it could be your mom, could be your dad, could be the kids. It could be anybody calling.”

The Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection has backed the measure for years. The department believes that as many as one million Wisconsinites will take part in the program.

Julie Laundrie, spokeswoman for Erpenbach, said he advocates the law because the telephone is a device for communication and not strictly business.

“Telemarketing has become a major industry, and people have paid a price with annoying telemarketing phone calls,” she said. “The telephone should be a tool for communication, not a tool for marketing. Wisconsin’s ‘do not call’ list gives people the opportunity to stop most telemarketing calls.”

For the system to work, telemarketing firms will have to register with the state and pay a fee, which will aid in funding the operation of the no-call list. Consumers must register with the state to take part in the program and re-register every two years.

Telemarketers who continually violate the law might be asked to cease operations in Wisconsin.

“We’ll try to increase the penalties in the Senate Budget Conference Committee and the governor will have the final say,” the spokeswoman said.

Assembly Majority Leader Steven Foti, R-Oconomowoc, said he would prefer a provision enabling consumers to see a telemarketer’s identity on caller identification and thus not take the call.

Democrats and Republicans frequently use telemarketing to raise money from small donors. The Republican Party has an internal telemarketing operation to help fundraising, for example.

Republicans argue that Wisconsin would be the only state to silence the small donors by implementing political citations on the no-call list.

The Federal Trade Commission is also considering instituting a nationwide no-call list.

The list does not prevent charitable and fraternal non-profit groups from placing calls. Twelve public hearings will be held across the state in May to receive input on how the program should be run.