093_HB3505

                                     LRB093 07136 WGH 10983 b

 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   5.  The Restricted Call Registry Act is amended
 5    by changing Section 20 as follows:

 6        (815 ILCS 402/20)
 7        Sec. 20.  Registry; establishment and maintenance.
 8        (a)  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish and
 9    provide for the operation  of  a  Restricted  Call  Registry,
10    which  shall  contain  a  list  of  the  telephone numbers of
11    residential subscribers who do not wish to receive  telephone
12    solicitation  calls.  The  Illinois  Commerce  Commission may
13    contract with a private vendor to establish and maintain  the
14    Registry  if  the contract requires the vendor to provide the
15    Registry in a printed hard  copy  format,  in  an  electronic
16    format,  and  in  any other format prescribed by the Illinois
17    Commerce  Commission.  Any  person   or   entity   conducting
18    telephone  solicitation  calls  as defined by Section 5(e) of
19    this Act within the State  of  Illinois  shall  purchase  the
20    Restricted  Call  Registry  and  updates exclusively from the
21    Illinois Commerce Commission.  Failure  to  do  so  prior  to
22    conducting   telephone  solicitation  calls  is  a  violation
23    subject to the penalties provided for in Section 35  of  this
24    Act.
25        (b)  No later than January 1, 2003, the Illinois Commerce
26    Commission  shall  adopt  rules consistent with this Act that
27    the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission   deems   necessary   and
28    appropriate  to  fully  implement  this  Act. The rules shall
29    include, at a minimum, methods by which any person or  entity
30    desiring  to  make  telephone  solicitation  calls may obtain
31    access to the Registry to avoid calling the telephone numbers
 
                            -2-      LRB093 07136 WGH 10983 b
 1    of residential subscribers included in the Registry.
 2        (c)  The fee for obtaining the Registry and updates shall
 3    be set forth  in  rules  adopted  by  the  Illinois  Commerce
 4    Commission.  The  fee  may not exceed $1,000 annually and may
 5    not exceed the  costs  incurred  by  the  Commission  in  the
 6    preparation, maintenance, production, and distribution of the
 7    Registry.  All copies requested in a printed hard copy format
 8    shall be assessed a per page fee to be  determined  by  rules
 9    adopted by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
10        (d)  The  Illinois  Commerce  Commission shall update the
11    Registry and make information in the Registry available on  a
12    quarterly basis in an electronic format that can be sorted by
13    individual  fields and, if deemed appropriate by the Illinois
14    Commerce Commission, in one or more other formats.
15        (e)  If  the  federal  government  establishes  a  single
16    national database of telephone  numbers  of  subscribers  who
17    object  to  receiving  telephone solicitations, the following
18    provisions shall apply:
19             (i)  If the federal laws or regulations  restricting
20        telephone  solicitation calls do not apply to intra-state
21        calls, this Act shall continue to  apply  to  intra-state
22        calls,  and  the  Illinois  Commerce Commission may adopt
23        rules providing that it shall use the  national  database
24        of   telephone  numbers  of  subscribers  who  object  to
25        receiving  telephone  solicitations  (rather   than   the
26        Restricted  Call  Registry)  for  restricting intra-state
27        telephone  solicitation  calls  to  Illinois  residential
28        subscribers under this Act.
29             (ii)  If the federal laws or regulations restricting
30        telephone solicitation calls allow states  to  have  more
31        restrictive  regulation  of  telephone solicitation calls
32        and this Act has more restrictive regulation of telephone
33        solicitation   calls   than   those   federal   laws   or
34        regulations, this Act shall continue to  apply  to  those
 
                            -3-      LRB093 07136 WGH 10983 b
 1        calls  and  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission may adopt
 2        rules providing that it shall use the  national  database
 3        of   telephone  numbers  of  subscribers  who  object  to
 4        receiving  telephone  solicitations  (rather   than   the
 5        Restricted   Call  Registry)  for  restricting  telephone
 6        solicitation calls to  Illinois  residential  subscribers
 7        under this Act.
 8             (iii)  If the Illinois Commerce Commission uses, for
 9        all  purposes  under  this  Act, the national database of
10        telephone numbers of subscribers who object to  receiving
11        telephone  solicitations (rather than the Restricted Call
12        Registry), the Illinois Commerce Commission  shall  adopt
13        rules discontinuing the Restricted Call Registry.  If the
14        Federal   Communications   Commission  or  Federal  Trade
15        Commission establishes  a  single  national  database  of
16        telephone  numbers of subscribers who object to receiving
17        telephone solicitations, which restricts both inter-state
18        and  intra-state  calls  and  at  a  minimum  covers  all
19        telephone solicitations covered by this Act,  this  State
20        shall discontinue the Registry.
21        (f)  Information  in  the  Registry  is  confidential and
22    shall be afforded reasonable  privacy  protection  except  as
23    necessary  for  compliance  with  Sections 10 and 25 and this
24    Section or in a proceeding or action under Section 35 or  40.
25    The  information  is not a public record under the Freedom of
26    Information Act.
27        (g)  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall  periodically
28    obtain  subscription  listings  of residential subscribers in
29    this State who have arranged to be included in  any  national
30    do-not-call list and add those names to the Registry.
31        (h)  A  person  or entity that obtains the Registry shall
32    not use the Registry for any purpose  other  than  to  comply
33    with  this  Act. These unlawful purposes include, but are not
34    limited to, causing a subscriber to  participate  in  and  be
 
                            -4-      LRB093 07136 WGH 10983 b
 1    included  in  the Registry without the subscriber's knowledge
 2    or consent, selling or leasing the Registry to a person other
 3    than a telephone solicitor, selling or leasing by a telephone
 4    solicitor of the Registry, and a telephone solicitor,  either
 5    directly  or indirectly, persuading a subscriber with whom it
 6    has an established business relationship to place his or  her
 7    telephone number in the Registry, if the solicitation has the
 8    effect   of   preventing  competitors  from  contacting  that
 9    solicitor's customers.
10        (i)  No person or entity that sells,  leases,  exchanges,
11    or  rents  telephone solicitation lists, except for directory
12    assistance  and  telephone  directories  sold  by   telephone
13    companies  or  their affiliates, shall include in those lists
14    those telephone numbers that appear in the current Registry.
15    (Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)