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EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1297
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR LEWIS.
4561S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal sections 407.1095, 407.1098, 407.1101, 407.1104, 407.1107, and 407.1110, RSMo, and
to enact in lieu thereof six new sections relating to telephone solicitations to businesses.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 407.1095, 407.1098, 407.1101, 1
407.1104, 407.1107, and 407.1110, RSMo, are repealed and six 2
new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 3
407.1095, 407.1098, 407.1101, 407.1104, 407.1107, and 407.1110, 4
to read as follows:5
407.1095. As used in sections 407.1095 to 407.1110, 1
the following words and phrases mean: 2
(1) "Business subscriber", a business which, primarily 3
for business use, has subscribed to business telephone 4
service, wireless service, or similar service; 5
(2) "Caller identification service", a type of 6
telephone service which permits telephone subscribers to see 7
the telephone number of incoming telephone calls; 8
[(2)] (3) "Residential subscriber", a person who, for 9
primarily personal and familial use, has subscribed to 10
residential telephone service, wireless service or similar 11
service, or the other persons living or residing with such 12
person; 13
[(3)] (4) "Telephone solicitation", any voice, 14
facsimile, short messaging service (SMS), or multimedia 15
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messaging service (MMS), for the purpose of encouraging the 16
purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods or 17
services, but does not include communications: 18
(a) To any residential subscriber or business 19
subscriber with that subscriber's prior express invitation 20
or permission; 21
(b) By or on behalf of any person or entity with whom 22
a residential subscriber or a business subscriber has had a 23
business contact within the past one hundred eighty days or 24
a current business or personal relationship; 25
(c) By or on behalf of an entity organized pursuant to 26
Chapter 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue 27
Code, while such entity is engaged in fund-raising to 28
support the charitable purpose for which the entity was 29
established provided that a bona fide member of such exempt 30
organization makes the voice communication; 31
(d) By or on behalf of any entity over which a federal 32
agency has regulatory authority to the extent that: 33
a. Subject to such authority, the entity is required 34
to maintain a license, permit or certificate to sell or 35
provide the merchandise being offered through telemarketing; 36
and 37
b. The entity is required by law or rule to develop 38
and maintain a no-call list; 39
(e) By a natural person responding to a referral, or 40
working from his or her primary residence, or a person 41
licensed by the state of Missouri to carry out a trade, 42
occupation or profession who is setting or attempting to set 43
an appointment for actions relating to that licensed trade, 44
occupation or profession within the state or counties 45
contiguous to the state. 46
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407.1098. No person or entity shall make or cause to 1
be made any telephone solicitation to any residential 2
subscriber or any business subscriber in this state who has 3
given notice to the attorney general, in accordance with 4
rules promulgated pursuant to section 407.1101 of such 5
subscriber's objection to receiving telephone solicitations. 6
407.1101. 1. The attorney general shall establish and 1
provide for the operation of a database to compile a list of 2
telephone numbers of residential subscribers and business 3
subscribers who object to receiving telephone 4
solicitations. [Such list is not intended to include any 5
telephone number primarily used for business or commercial 6
purposes.] 7
2. The attorney general shall promulgate rules and 8
regulations governing the establishment of a state no-call 9
database as he or she deems necessary and appropriate to 10
fully implement the provisions of sections 407.1095 to 11
407.1110. The rules and regulations shall include those 12
which: 13
(1) Specify the methods by which each residential 14
subscriber or business subscriber may give notice to the 15
attorney general or its contractor of his or her objection 16
to receiving such solicitations or revocation of such 17
notice. There shall be no cost to the subscriber for 18
joining the database; 19
(2) Specify the length of time for which a notice of 20
objection shall be effective and the effect of a change of 21
telephone number on such notice; 22
(3) Specify the methods by which such objections and 23
revocations shall be collected and added to the database; 24
(4) Specify the methods by which any person or entity 25
desiring to make telephone solicitations will obtain access 26
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to the database as required to avoid calling the telephone 27
numbers of residential subscribers or business subscribers 28
included in the database, including the cost assessed to 29
that person or entity for access to the database; 30
(5) Specify such other matters relating to the 31
database that the attorney general deems desirable. 32
3. If the Federal Communications Commission 33
establishes a single national database of telephone numbers 34
of subscribers who object to receiving telephone 35
solicitations pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Section 227(c)(3), the 36
attorney general shall include that part of such single 37
national database that relates to Missouri in the database 38
established pursuant to this section. 39
4. Information contained in the database established 40
pursuant to this section shall be used only for the purpose 41
of compliance with section 407.1098 and this section or in a 42
proceeding or action pursuant to section 407.1107. Such 43
information shall not be considered a public record pursuant 44
to chapter 610. 45
5. In April, July, October and January of each year, 46
the attorney general shall be encouraged to obtain 47
subscription listings of residential subscribers and 48
business subscribers in this state who have arranged to be 49
included on any national do-not-call list and add those 50
telephone numbers to the state do-not-call list. 51
6. The attorney general may utilize moneys 52
appropriated from general revenue and moneys appropriated 53
from the merchandising practices revolving fund established 54
in section 407.140 for the purposes of establishing and 55
operating the state no-call database. 56
7. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is 57
defined in section 536.010, that is created under the 58
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authority delegated in sections 407.1095 to 407.1110 shall 59
become effective only if it complies with and is subject to 60
all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, 61
section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are 62
nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the 63
general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay 64
the effective date or to disapprove and annul a rule are 65
subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of 66
rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after 67
August 28, 2000, shall be invalid and void. 68
407.1104. 1. Any person or entity who makes a 1
telephone solicitation to any residential subscriber or 2
business subscriber in this state shall, at the beginning of 3
such solicitation, state clearly the identity of the person 4
or entity initiating the solicitation. 5
2. No person or entity who makes a telephone 6
solicitation to a residential subscriber or a business 7
subscriber in this state shall knowingly use any method to 8
block or otherwise circumvent any subscriber's use of a 9
caller identification service. 10
407.1107. 1. The attorney general may initiate 1
proceedings relating to a knowing violation or threatened 2
knowing violation of section 407.1098 or 407.1104. Such 3
proceedings may include, without limitation, an injunction, 4
a civil penalty up to a maximum of five thousand dollars for 5
each knowing violation and additional relief in any court of 6
competent jurisdiction. The attorney general may issue 7
investigative demands, issue subpoenas, administer oaths and 8
conduct hearings in the course of investigating a violation 9
of section 407.1098 or 407.1104. 10
2. In addition to the penalties provided in subsection 11
1 of this section, any person or entity that violates 12
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section 407.1104 shall be subject to all penalties, remedies 13
and procedures provided in sections 407.010 to 407.130. The 14
remedies available in this section are cumulative and in 15
addition to any other remedies available by law. 16
3. Any person or business who has received more than 17
one telephone solicitation within any twelve-month period by 18
or on behalf of the same person or entity in violation of 19
section 407.1098 or 407.1104 may either: 20
(1) Bring an action to enjoin such violation; 21
(2) Bring an action to recover for actual monetary 22
loss from such knowing violation or to receive up to five 23
thousand dollars in damages for each such knowing violation, 24
whichever is greater; or 25
(3) Bring both such actions. 26
4. It shall be a defense in any action or proceeding 27
brought pursuant to this section that the defendant has 28
established and implemented, with due care, reasonable 29
practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone 30
solicitations in violation of section 407.1098 or 407.1104. 31
5. No action or proceeding may be brought pursuant to 32
this section: 33
(1) More than two years after the person or business 34
bringing the action knew or should have known of the 35
occurrence of the alleged violation; or 36
(2) More than two years after the termination of any 37
proceeding or action arising out of the same violation or 38
violations by the state of Missouri, whichever is later. 39
6. A court of this state may exercise personal 40
jurisdiction over any nonresident or his or her executor or 41
administrator as to an action or proceeding authorized by 42
this section in the manner otherwise provided by law. 43
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7. The remedies, duties, prohibitions and penalties of 44
sections 407.1095 to 407.1107 are not exclusive and are in 45
addition to all other causes of action, remedies and 46
penalties provided by law. 47
8. No provider of telephone caller identification 48
service shall be held liable for violations of section 49
407.1098 or 407.1104 committed by other persons or entities. 50
407.1110. The attorney general shall establish an 1
advisory group composed of government entities, local 2
telecommunications companies, businesses, and senior citizen 3
and other community advocates to compile and promote a list 4
of educational literature to help consumers understand their 5
options with regard to telephone solicitations. The 6
attorney general shall work with local exchange 7
telecommunications companies to disseminate to their 8
residential subscribers and business subscribers information 9
about the availability of and instructions about how to 10
request educational literature from the attorney general. 11
The attorney general may enter into agreements with those 12
companies for the purpose of dissemination of the 13
educational literature. The attorney general shall include 14
on his or her internet website information that informs 15
residential subscribers and business subscribers of their 16
rights to be placed on a no-call list and the various 17
methods, including notice to the attorney general, of 18
placing their names on this no-call list. The attorney 19
general shall have this literature developed for 20
dissemination to the public no later than January 1, [2001] 21
2027. 22
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