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92_SB1830eng SB1830 Engrossed LRB9215936WHcs 1 AN ACT concerning telephone solicitation. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 5 Restricted Call Registry Act. 6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: 7 (a) "Residential subscriber" means a person or spouse 8 who has subscribed to either residential telephone service 9 from a local exchange company or public mobile services, as 10 defined by Section 13-214 of the Public Utilities Act, a 11 guardian of the person or the person's spouse, or an 12 individual who has power of attorney from or an authorized 13 agent of the person or the person's spouse. 14 (b) "Established business relationship" means the 15 existence of an oral or written transaction, agreement, 16 contract, or other legal state of affairs involving a person 17 or entity and an existing customer under which both parties 18 have a course of conduct or established pattern of activity 19 for commercial or mercantile purposes and for the benefit or 20 profit of both parties. A pattern of activity does not 21 necessarily mean multiple previous contacts. The established 22 business relationship must exist between the existing 23 customer and the person or entity directly, and does not 24 extend to any related business entity or other business 25 organization of the person or entity or related to the person 26 or entity or the person or entity's agent including but not 27 limited to a parent corporation, subsidiary partnership, 28 company or other corporation or affiliate. 29 (c) "Existing customer" means an individual who has 30 either: 31 (1) entered into a transaction, agreement, SB1830 Engrossed -2- LRB9215936WHcs 1 contract, or other legal state of affairs between a 2 person or entity and a residential subscriber under which 3 the payment or exchange of consideration for any goods or 4 services has taken place within the preceding 18 months 5 or has been arranged to take place at a future time; or 6 (2) opened or maintained a debit account, credit 7 card account, or other credit or discount program offered 8 by or in conjunction with the person or entity and has 9 not requested the person or entity to close such account 10 or terminate such program. 11 (d) "Registry" means the Restricted Call Registry 12 established under this Act. 13 (e) "Telephone solicitation" means any voice 14 communication over a telephone line from a live operator, 15 through the use of an autodialer or autodialer system, as 16 defined in Section 5 of the Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, 17 or by other means for the purpose of encouraging the purchase 18 or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services, 19 or for the purposes of soliciting charitable contributions 20 but does not include communications: 21 (1) to any residential subscriber with that 22 subscriber's prior express invitation or permission when 23 a voluntary 2-way communication between a person or 24 entity and a residential subscriber has occurred with or 25 without an exchange of consideration. A telephone 26 solicitation is presumed not to be made at the express 27 request of a subscriber if one of the following occurs, 28 as applicable: 29 (A) The telephone solicitation is made 30 30 business days after the last date on which the 31 subscriber contacted a business with the purpose of 32 inquiring about the potential purchase of goods or 33 services. 34 (B) The telephone solicitation is made 30 SB1830 Engrossed -3- LRB9215936WHcs 1 business days after the last date on which the 2 subscriber consented to be contacted. 3 (C) The telephone solicitation is made 30 4 business days after a product or service becomes 5 available where the subscriber has made a request to 6 the business for that product or service that is not 7 then available, and requests a call when the product 8 or service becomes available; 9 (2) by or on behalf of any person or entity with 10 whom a residential subscriber has an established business 11 relationship which has not been terminated in writing by 12 either party and which is related to the nature of the 13 established business relationship; 14 (3) by or on behalf of any person or entity with 15 whom a residential subscriber is an existing customer, 16 unless the customer has stated to the person or entity or 17 the person or entity's agent that he or she no longer 18 wishes to receive the telemarketing sales calls of the 19 person or entity, or unless the nature of the call is 20 unrelated to the established business relationship with 21 the existing customer; 22 (4) by or on behalf of an organization that is 23 exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(c) 24 of the Internal Revenue Code, but only if the person 25 making the telephone solicitation immediately discloses 26 all of the following information upon making contact with 27 the consumer: 28 (A) the caller's true first and last name; and 29 (B) the name, address, and telephone number of 30 the organization; 31 (5) by or on behalf of an individual licensed under 32 the Real Estate License Act of 2000 or as an insurance 33 producer under the Illinois Insurance Code who either: 34 (A) is setting or attempting to set a face to SB1830 Engrossed -4- LRB9215936WHcs 1 face appointment for actions relating to that 2 individual's real estate or insurance business; or 3 (B) is encouraging or attempting to encourage 4 the purchase or rental of, or investment in, 5 property, goods, or services, which cannot be 6 completed, and for which payment or authorization of 7 payment is not required, until after a written or 8 electronic agreement is signed by the residential 9 subscriber; or 10 (6) until July 1, 2005, by or on behalf of any 11 entity over which the Federal Communications Commission 12 or the Illinois Commerce Commission has regulatory 13 authority to the extent that, subject to that authority, 14 the entity is required to maintain a license, permit, or 15 certificate to sell or provide telecommunications 16 service, as defined in Section 13-203 of the Public 17 Utilities Act, while the entity is engaged in telephone 18 solicitation for inter-exchange telecommunications 19 service, as defined in Section 13-205 of the Public 20 Utilities Act, or local exchange telecommunications 21 service, as defined in Section 13-204 of the Public 22 Utilities Act. 23 Section 10. Prohibited calls. Beginning July 1, 2003, 24 no person or entity may make or cause to be made any 25 telephone solicitation calls to any residential subscriber 26 more than 45 days after the residential subscriber's 27 telephone number or numbers first appear on the Registry. 28 Section 15. Complaints. The Illinois Commerce Commission 29 shall receive telephone solicitation complaints from 30 residential subscribers to object to such calls. Complaints 31 shall be taken by any means deemed appropriate by the 32 Illinois Commerce Commission. SB1830 Engrossed -5- LRB9215936WHcs 1 Section 20. Registry; establishment and maintenance. 2 (a) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish and 3 provide for the operation of a Restricted Call Registry, 4 which shall contain a list of the telephone numbers of 5 residential subscribers who do not wish to receive telephone 6 solicitation calls. The Illinois Commerce Commission may 7 contract with a private vendor to establish and maintain the 8 Registry if the contract requires the vendor to provide the 9 Registry in a printed hard copy format, in an electronic 10 format, and in any other format prescribed by the Illinois 11 Commerce Commission. Any person or entity conducting 12 telephone solicitation calls as defined by Section 5(e) of 13 this Act within the State of Illinois shall purchase the 14 Restricted Call Registry and updates exclusively from the 15 Illinois Commerce Commission. Failure to do so prior to 16 conducting telephone solicitation calls is a violation 17 subject to the penalties provided for in Section 35 of this 18 Act. 19 (b) No later than January 1, 2003, the Illinois Commerce 20 Commission shall adopt rules consistent with this Act that 21 the Illinois Commerce Commission deems necessary and 22 appropriate to fully implement this Act. The rules shall 23 include, at a minimum, methods by which any person or entity 24 desiring to make telephone solicitation calls may obtain 25 access to the Registry to avoid calling the telephone numbers 26 of residential subscribers included in the Registry. 27 (c) The fee for obtaining the Registry and updates shall 28 be set forth in rules adopted by the Illinois Commerce 29 Commission. The fee may not exceed $1,000 annually and may 30 not exceed the costs incurred by the Commission in the 31 preparation, maintenance, production, and distribution of the 32 Registry. All copies requested in a printed hard copy format 33 shall be assessed a per page fee to be determined by rules 34 adopted by the Illinois Commerce Commission. SB1830 Engrossed -6- LRB9215936WHcs 1 (d) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall update the 2 Registry and make information in the Registry available on a 3 quarterly basis in an electronic format that can be sorted by 4 individual fields and, if deemed appropriate by the Illinois 5 Commerce Commission, in one or more other formats. 6 (e) If the Federal Communications Commission or Federal 7 Trade Commission establishes a single national database of 8 telephone numbers of subscribers who object to receiving 9 telephone solicitations, which restricts both inter-state and 10 intra-state calls and at a minimum covers all telephone 11 solicitations covered by this Act, this State shall 12 discontinue the Registry. 13 (f) Information in the Registry is confidential and 14 shall be afforded reasonable privacy protection except as 15 necessary for compliance with Sections 10 and 25 and this 16 Section or in a proceeding or action under Section 35 or 40. 17 The information is not a public record under the Freedom of 18 Information Act. 19 (g) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall periodically 20 obtain subscription listings of residential subscribers in 21 this State who have arranged to be included in any national 22 do-not-call list and add those names to the Registry. 23 (h) A person or entity that obtains the Registry shall 24 not use the Registry for any purpose other than to comply 25 with this Act. These unlawful purposes include, but are not 26 limited to, causing a subscriber to participate in and be 27 included in the Registry without the subscriber's knowledge 28 or consent, selling or leasing the Registry to a person other 29 than a telephone solicitor, selling or leasing by a telephone 30 solicitor of the Registry, and a telephone solicitor, either 31 directly or indirectly, persuading a subscriber with whom it 32 has an established business relationship to place his or her 33 telephone number in the Registry, if the solicitation has the 34 effect of preventing competitors from contacting that SB1830 Engrossed -7- LRB9215936WHcs 1 solicitor's customers. 2 (i) No person or entity that sells, leases, exchanges, 3 or rents telephone solicitation lists, except for directory 4 assistance and telephone directories sold by telephone 5 companies or their affiliates, shall include in those lists 6 those telephone numbers that appear in the current Registry. 7 Section 25. Enrollment. 8 (a) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall provide 9 notice to residential subscribers of the establishment of the 10 Registry. 11 (b) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish any 12 method deemed appropriate for a residential subscriber to 13 notify the Illinois Commerce Commission that the residential 14 subscriber wishes to have its telephone number included in or 15 remain on the Registry. 16 (c) The Commission may, by rule, set an initial fee 17 which shall not exceed $5 per residential subscriber for 18 inclusion on the Restricted Call Registry. The Commission 19 shall review the revenues and expenditures of the Restricted 20 Call Registry on a biennial basis and shall, by rule, reduce 21 the fee accordingly if revenues exceed expenditures. The 22 Commission may adopt rules and procedures governing the 23 acceptance of payment by credit card and may enter into such 24 agreements as necessary to accept payment by credit card. 25 (d) A residential subscriber's telephone number shall be 26 deleted from the Registry upon the residential subscriber's 27 written request. 28 (e) Enrollment in the Registry is effective from the 29 start of the quarter following the date of enrollment for a 30 term of 5 years or until the residential subscriber 31 disconnects or changes his or her telephone number, unless 32 the subscriber complies with the notice provision contained 33 in this Section, whichever occurs first. The residential SB1830 Engrossed -8- LRB9215936WHcs 1 subscriber shall be permitted to extend their enrollment for 2 additional 5 year periods and shall not be subject to any fee 3 for this extension. The residential subscriber is 4 responsible for notifying the Illinois Commerce Commission of 5 any changes in his or her telephone number. The Illinois 6 Commerce Commission shall use its best efforts to notify 7 enrolled residential subscribers before the end of the 5-year 8 enrollment term of the option to extend their enrollment. 9 Residential subscribers who do not indicate their desire to 10 extend their enrollment before the end of the 5-year term 11 shall be given a one quarter grace period before being 12 removed from the Registry. 13 Section 30. Public notification. The Illinois Commerce 14 Commission shall work with local exchange telecommunications 15 companies to disseminate to their customers information about 16 the availability of and instructions for requesting 17 educational literature from the Illinois Commerce Commission. 18 The Illinois Commerce Commission may enter into agreements 19 with those companies for the dissemination of the educational 20 literature. Telecommunications companies shall disseminate 21 the educational literature at least once per year in a 22 message contained in customers' bills or a notice in the 23 information section of all telephone directories distributed 24 to customers and shall include on their website a link to the 25 ICC's web page for the Registry. The Illinois Commerce 26 Commission shall include, on its Internet web site, 27 information to customers regarding their right to be included 28 in the Registry and the various methods, including notice to 29 the Illinois Commerce Commission, of being included in the 30 Registry. The Illinois Commerce Commission shall have this 31 literature developed for dissemination to the public no later 32 than March 1, 2003. SB1830 Engrossed -9- LRB9215936WHcs 1 Section 35. Violation; relief. 2 (a) The Illinois Commerce Commission may initiate 3 administrative proceedings in accordance with rules adopted 4 under this Act relating to a knowing and willful violation of 5 Section 10. 6 (b) If it is determined after a hearing that a person 7 has knowingly and willfully violated one or more provisions 8 of this Section, the Illinois Commerce Commission may assess 9 a fine not to exceed $1,000 for the first violation and not 10 to exceed $2,500 for a second or subsequent violation. Each 11 individual violation of Section 10 of this Act shall be a 12 separate and distinct offense under this Section. In 13 imposing a penalty under this Section, the Commission shall, 14 at a minimum, consider the following factors: 15 (1) whether the offense was knowing or willful; 16 (2) whether the entity committing the offense has a 17 prior history of non-compliance with this Act; 18 (3) the offender's relative ability to pay a 19 penalty; 20 (4) whether the offender has or has not cooperated 21 with the Commission in pursuing the investigation; and 22 (5) such other special, mitigating or aggravating 23 circumstances as the Commission may find to exist. 24 (c) Any proceeding conducted under this Section is 25 subject to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. 26 (d) Nothing in this Section may be construed to restrict 27 any right that any person may have under any other law or at 28 common law. 29 (e) No action or proceeding may be brought under this 30 Section: 31 (1) more than one year after the person bringing 32 the action knew or should have known of the occurrence of 33 the alleged violation; or 34 (2) more than one year after the termination of any SB1830 Engrossed -10- LRB9215936WHcs 1 proceeding or action arising out of the same violation or 2 violations by the State of Illinois, whichever is later. 3 (f) The remedies, duties, prohibitions, and penalties in 4 this Act are not exclusive and are in addition to all other 5 causes of action, remedies, and penalties provided by law. 6 (g) There is created in the State Treasury a special 7 fund to be known as the Restricted Call Registry Fund. All 8 fees and fines collected in the administration and 9 enforcement of this Act shall be deposited into the Fund. 10 Moneys in the Fund shall, subject to appropriation, be used 11 by the Illinois Commerce Commission for implementation, 12 administration, and enforcement of this Act. 13 Section 40. Exemption. 14 (a) A person or entity may not be held liable for 15 violating this Act if: 16 (1) the person or entity has obtained copies of the 17 Registry and each updated Registry from the Illinois 18 Commerce Commission and has established and implemented 19 written policies and procedures related to the 20 requirements of this Act; 21 (2) the person or entity has trained its personnel 22 in the requirements of this Act; 23 (3) the person or entity maintains records 24 demonstrating compliance with subdivisions (1) and (2) of 25 this Section and the requirements of this Act; and 26 (4) any subsequent telephone solicitation is the 27 result of unintentional error. 28 (b) A person or entity that has entered into a contract 29 with another person or entity to make telephone solicitations 30 on its behalf is not liable for a violation of this Act by 31 the person or entity making telephone solicitations under the 32 contract if the person or entity on whose behalf the 33 telephone solicitations were made has provided written SB1830 Engrossed -11- LRB9215936WHcs 1 notification to the person or entity making telephone 2 solicitations under the contract that it is necessary to 3 comply with the provisions of this Act when making telephone 4 solicitations. 5 Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding 6 Section 5.570 as follows: 7 (30 ILCS 105/5.570 new) 8 Sec. 5.570. The Restricted Call Registry Fund. 9 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 10 becoming law.