H-4303              _______________________________________________

                                          SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 1678

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1986 Regular Session

By House Committee on Energy & Utilities (originally sponsored by Representatives Wang, Jacobsen, Tilly, Todd, Fisher, Patrick, D. Nelson, Barnes, Lux, Isaacson, Locke, Sayan, Unsoeld, Long, Sutherland, Brough, Van Luven, Winsley, Gallagher, Nealey, P. King, C. Smith and Taylor)

Read first time 2/5/86 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to telephone solicitation; adding a new section to chapter 80.36 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that certain kinds of telephone solicitation are increasing and that these solicitations interfere with the legitimate privacy rights of the citizens of the state.  A study conducted by the utilities and transportation commission, as directed by the forty-ninth legislature, has found that the level of telephone solicitation in this state is significant to warrant regulatory action to protect the privacy rights of the citizens of the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 80.36 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) As used in this section, "telephone solicitation" means the unsolicited initiation of a telephone call to a residential telephone customer and conversation for  the purpose of encouraging a person to purchase property, goods, or services or soliciting donations of money, property, goods, or services.  "Telephone solicitation" does not include:

          (a) Calls made in response to a request or inquiry by the called party.  This includes calls regarding an item that has been purchased by the called party from the company or organization during a period not longer than twelve months prior to the telephone contact;

          (b) Calls made by a not-for-profit organization to its own membership list; or

          (c) Business-to-business contacts.

          For purposes of this section, each individual real estate agent shall be treated as a company or organization.

          (2) A person making a telephone solicitation must identify him or herself and the company or organization on whose behalf the solicitation is being made and the purpose of the call within the first thirty seconds of the telephone call.

          (3) If, at any time during the telephone contact, the called party states that he or she does not want to purchase property, goods, or services or make a donation of property, goods, or services, the solicitor must inform the called party that he or she has the right not to be called further by that company or organization; and that the called party has the right to have his or her name and telephone number removed from the telephone lists being used by the company or organization making the solicitation.  The solicitor must then remove the called party's name and telephone number from the lists if the called party states that he or she does not wish to receive any further calls.  Once the called party's name and telephone number are removed from the solicitor's list, the company or organization making the solicitation shall not make any additional solicitations of the called party.  If the called party requests that his or her name and telephone number be taken off the solicitor's list, the company or organization shall not sell or give the called party's name or telephone number to another company or organization.  However, the company or organization making the solicitation is not required to recontact the company or organization that originally sold or provided the list unless as a matter of course the company or organization returns the list to the company or organization that originally provided it or sold it.

          (4) A violation of subsection (2) or (3) of this section is punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars for each violation.

          (5) The attorney general may bring actions to enforce compliance with this section.  For the first violation by any company or organization of this section, the attorney general shall notify the company with a letter of warning that the section has been violated.  An action under this section shall be instituted for the second and subsequent violations by a company or organization.

          (6) A person aggrieved by a violation of this section may bring a civil action in superior court to enjoin future violations, to recover damages, or both.  The court shall award damages of at least one hundred dollars for each individual violation of this section.  If the aggrieved person prevails in a civil action under this subsection, the court shall award the aggrieved person reasonable attorneys' fees and cost of the suit.

          (7) The utilities and transportation commission shall by rule ensure that telecommunications companies inform their residential customers of the provisions of this section.  The notification may be made by (a) annual inserts in the billing statements mailed to residential customers, or (b) conspicuous publication of the notice in the consumer information pages of local telephone directories.