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92_SB1830gms
State of Illinois
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Springfield, Illinois 62706
George H. Ryan
GOVERNOR
August 9, 2002
To the Honorable Members of
The Illinois Senate
92nd General Assembly
On August 10, 2001, I vetoed House Bill 176 which was
very similar to Senate Bill 1830, "AN ACT concerning
telephone solicitation." The intent of both bills was to
allow people to indicate if they do not want to receive
telephone calls from businesses or other organizations trying
to sell products or solicit donations. House Bill 176 had a
variety of exemptions. If this bill had become law, people
would have been disappointed when they found out that the
number of unsolicited telephone calls that they received
would not have been greatly reduced. This has been the case
in other states where initial reactions of public support
have turned to displeasure when telephone customers realized
that unwanted phone calls did continue.
I am going to sign Senate Bill 1830 into law, but I do so
with some disappointment and with the hope that the General
Assembly will build on this small, first step, by passing
future improvements that reduce, and hopefully eliminate, the
many exemptions that will be in the new law. I was hoping
that the General Assembly would send me a better bill with
fewer exemptions, but it appears that this is the best
compromise version that could be achieved at this time.
I gave serious consideration to amendatorily vetoing
Senate Bill 1830 to remove all of the exemptions, but I was
concerned about violating the gubernatorial non-compliance
threshold on what is and is not acceptable in an amendatory
veto.
The principle involved here is really quite simple. A
telephone customer pays money, in some cases a considerable
amount of money, to secure telephone service each month.
This is not a public good that is given away at no charge.
If that paying customer indicates that they do not want to be
called by organizations soliciting either sales or
contributions, this is a request that should be respected.
Additionally, organizations that want to solicit from
telephone customers should appreciate having a list of people
who have said in advance that they do not wish to be
contacted. These organizations do not want to waste their
time any more than the people receiving these calls want to
have their time wasted.
Telephone customers are perfectly free not to put their
names on the "do-not-call" list as they may see a benefit to
receiving sales offers and requests for contributions over
the telephone. Likewise, telephone customers should also
have the right to know that when they say they do not want to
be contacted via telephone, a service for which they pay,
that this wish will be respected.
The issue has nothing to do with free speech or in any
way compromising our system of free enterprise. Just as
people now can turn off a television if they do not wish to
see advertising, or toss solicitations that arrive via mail
into the garbage, they should also be able to limit the
unwanted telephone interruptions imposed on their families.
The State should not be in the position of determining
which organizations are "worthy" enough to contradict the
specific request of an individual who has clearly indicated
that they do not wish to be contacted. Many organizations
could make a compelling case but this misses the point that
when a telephone customer says "no", they mean "no." Of
course the Illinois Commerce Commission should consider how
much an organization is able to pay when they determine the
appropriate fee needed to purchase the "do-not-call" list.
No state has been able to create a "do-not-call" law that
fully meets the expectations of its citizens. I believe that
the bill sponsors did the best that they could to get a
reasonable bill through the General Assembly; accordingly, I
am pleased to sign this first good step into law.
Sincerely,
George H. Ryan
GOVERNOR