Bill Text: MS HB1127 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Telephone solicitations; expand to include certain political phone calls.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-23 - Died In Committee [HB1127 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-HB1127-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Public Utilities
By: Representative Hood (By Request)
House Bill 1127
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 77-3-703, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE MISSISSIPPI TELEPHONE SOLICITATION ACT SHALL GOVERN CALLS MADE FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTION 77-3-705, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE TELEPHONE CALLS MADE FOR POLITICAL SUPPORT, TELEPHONE CALLS MADE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PUSH POLLING AND PROHIBITED POLITICAL CALLS IN THE DEFINITION OF "TELEPHONE SOLICITATION" SO THAT THOSE CALLS ARE PROHIBITED WHEN CONSUMERS NOTIFY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF THEIR OBJECTIONS TO RECEIVING SUCH CALLS; TO DEFINE "PUSH POLLING"; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 77-3-609, 77-3-709 AND 77-3-711, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 77-3-703, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
77-3-703. (1) The use of the telephone to make all types of solicitations to consumers is pervasive. This article gives consumers a tool by which to object to telemarketing calls as these communications can amount to a nuisance, an invasion of privacy, and can create a health and safety risk for certain consumers who maintain their phone service primarily for emergency medical situations.
(2) Any calls made for political purposes shall be governed by Section 23-15-875 and provisions of this article.
SECTION 2. Section 77-3-705, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
77-3-705. For the purposes of this article, the following words and terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Consumer" means a person to whom is assigned in the State of Mississippi a residential telephone line and corresponding telephone number, who uses the residential line primarily for residential purposes.
(b) "Caller identification service" means a type of telephone service which permits a telephone subscriber to view the telephone number and name of the person or entity making an incoming telephone call.
(c) "Telephone solicitor" means any person, firm, entity, organization, partnership, association, corporation, charitable entity, or a subsidiary or affiliate thereof, who engages in any type of telephone solicitation on his or her own behalf or through representatives, independent contractors, salespersons, agents, automated dialing systems or machines or other individuals or systems.
(d) "Telephone solicitation" means any voice communication over the telephone line of a consumer for the purpose of:
(i) Encouraging
the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property; * * *
(ii) Soliciting a
sale of any consumer goods or services, or an extension of credit for consumer
goods or services * * *;
(iii) Engaging in the practice of soliciting political support in any form for any candidate running for an elective office;
(iv) Engaging in the practice of push polling; or
(v) Communicating for political purposes that are prohibited under Section 23-15-875.
(e) "Commission" means the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
(f) "Doing business in this state" refers to businesses which conduct telephone solicitations from any location to consumers located in this state.
(g) "Consumer goods or services" means any real property or any tangible or intangible personal property which is normally used for personal, family or household purposes, including, without limitation, any property intended to be attached to, or installed in, any real property, and any services related to the property.
(h) "Established business relationship" means a prior or existing relationship formed by a voluntary two-way communication between a person or entity and a consumer, with or without an exchange of consideration, on the basis of an inquiry, application, purchase or transaction by the consumer, which relationship is currently existing or was terminated within six (6) months of the telephone solicitation; however, the act of purchasing consumer goods or services under an extension of credit does not create an existing business relationship between the consumer and the entity extending credit to the consumer for such purchase. The term does not include the situation wherein the consumer has merely been subject to a telephone solicitation by or at the behest of the telephone solicitor within the six (6) months immediately preceding the contemplated telephone solicitation.
(i) "Charitable organization" means any person or entity holding itself out to be established for any benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, scientific, patriotic, social welfare or advocacy, public health, environmental or conservation, civic or other eleemosynary purpose or for the benefit of law enforcement personnel, firefighters, or any other persons who protect the public safety, or for any other purpose where a charitable appeal is the basis of the solicitation.
(j) "Push polling" means a telemarketing technique in which telephone calls are made to voters to disseminate political information designed to influence the election of a candidate under the guise of taking a poll to determine how the information may affect a voter's preference for a particular candidate, with the intent to distribute verbal campaign propaganda while purporting to conduct a legitimate public opinion poll.
SECTION 3. Section 77-3-609, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
77-3-609. The provisions of Sections 77-3-601 through 77-3-619 shall not apply to:
(a) A person engaging in commercial telephone solicitation where the solicitation is an isolated transaction and not done in the course of a pattern of repeated transactions of like nature.
(b) A person making calls for religious, charitable, political, education or other noncommercial purposes, or a person soliciting for a nonprofit corporation if that corporation is properly registered as such with the Secretary of State and is included within the exemption of Section 501(c)(3) or Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(c) A person soliciting:
(i) Without the intent to complete or obtain provisional acceptance of a sale during the telephone solicitation;
(ii) Who does not make the major sales presentation during the telephone solicitation; or
(iii) Without the intent to complete, and who does not complete, the sales presentation during the telephone solicitation, but who completes the sales presentation at a later face-to-face meeting between the seller and the prospective purchaser. However, if a seller, directly following a telephone solicitation, causes an individual whose primary purpose it is to go to the prospective purchaser to collect the payment or deliver any item purchased, this exemption does not apply.
(d) Any licensed securities, commodities, or investments broker, dealer or investment advisor, when soliciting within the scope of his license. As used in this section, "licensed securities, commodities, or investments broker, dealer or investment advisor" means a person subject to license or registration as such by the Securities and Exchange Commission, by the National Association of Securities Dealers or other self-regulatory organization as defined by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 781), or by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States.
(e) Any licensed associated person of a securities, commodities, or investments broker, dealer or investment advisor, when soliciting within the scope of his license. As used in this section, "licensed associated person of a securities, commodities, or investment broker, dealer or investment advisor" means any associated person registered or licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers or other self-regulatory organization as defined by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 781) or by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States.
(f) A person primarily soliciting the sale of a newspaper, magazine or periodical of general circulation by its publisher, or by the publisher's agent through written agreement.
(g) A book, video or record club or contractual plan or arrangement:
(i) Under which the seller provides the consumer with a form which the consumer may use to instruct the seller not to ship the offered merchandise;
(ii) Which is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission trade regulation concerning "use of negative option plans by sellers in commerce"; or
(iii) Which provides for the sale of books, records or videos which are not covered under paragraphs (i) or (ii), including continuity plans, subscription arrangements, standing order arrangements, supplements and series arrangements under which the seller periodically ships merchandise to a consumer who has consented in advance to receive such merchandise on a periodic basis.
(h) Any supervised financial institution or parent, subsidiary or affiliate thereof. As used in this section, "supervised financial institution" means any commercial bank, trust company, savings and loan association, mutual savings bank, credit union, industrial loan company, consumer finance lender, commercial finance lender or insurer, provided that the institution is subject to supervision by an official or agency of this state, of any state or of the United States.
(i) Any licensed insurance or real estate broker, agent, customer representative or solicitor when soliciting within the scope of his license. As used in this section, "licensed insurance or real estate broker, agent, customer representative or solicitor" means any insurance or real estate broker, agent, customer representative or solicitor licensed by an official or agency of this state or of any state of the United States.
(j) A person soliciting the sale of services provided by a cable television system operating under authority of a franchise or permit.
(k) A person who solicits sales by periodically publishing and delivering a catalog of the seller's merchandise to prospective purchasers, if the catalog:
(i) Contains a written description or illustration of each item offered for sale;
(ii) Includes the business address or home office address of the seller;
(iii) Includes at least twenty-four (24) pages of written material and illustrations and is distributed in more than one (1) state; or
(iv) Has an annual circulation by mailing of not less than two hundred fifty thousand (250,000).
(l) A person who solicits contracts for the maintenance or repair of goods previously purchased from the person making the solicitation or on whose behalf the solicitation is made.
(m) A telephone company, or its subsidiary or agents, or a business which is regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, or a Federal Communications Commission licensed cellular telephone company or other bona fide radio telecommunication services provider.
(n) Any publicly traded corporation which has securities registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission which are a reported security within the meaning of subparagraph (4) of Regulation Section 240.11a3-1,(a), under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or which is exempt from registration under subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (E), (F), (G) or (H) of paragraph (2) of subsection (g) of Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Section 781), or any subsidiary of such a corporation.
(o) A business soliciting exclusively the sale of telephone answering services, provided that the telephone answering services will be supplied by the solicitor.
(p) A person soliciting a transaction regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission if the person is registered or temporarily licensed for this activity with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq.) and the registration or license has not expired or been suspended or revoked.
(q) A person soliciting the sale of food or produce if the solicitation neither intends to result in, or actually results in, a sale which costs the purchaser in excess of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).
(r) A person soliciting business from prospective consumers who have an established business relationship with, or who have previously purchased from, the business enterprise for which the solicitor is calling, if the solicitor is operating under the same exact business name.
(s) A person who has been operating, for at least one (1) year, a retail business establishment under the same name as that used in connection with telemarketing, and both of the following occur on a continuing basis:
(i) Either products are displayed and offered for sale, or services are offered for sale and provided at the business establishment; and
(ii) A majority of the seller's business involves the buyer obtaining such products or services at the seller's location.
(t) Any telephone marketing service company which provides telemarketing sales services under contract to sellers and has been operating continuously for at least five (5) years under the same business name and seventy-five percent (75%) of its contracts are performed on behalf of persons exempted from Sections 77-3-601 through 77-3-619.
SECTION 4. Section 77-3-709, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
77-3-709. The commission, in its discretion, may allow telephone solicitors to make telephone solicitations without requiring them to purchase the "no-calls" database, and regardless of whether a telephone solicitation may be made to a consumer who has given notice of his objection to receiving such solicitations, provided that it adopts a written policy incorporating the following criteria:
(a) The telephone solicitor must demonstrate to the commission that its proposed telephone solicitation is reasonably related to an established business relationship as defined in Section 77-3-705(h), or is being made in response to an invitation or notice from a consumer which clearly signifies that he is open to a contact being initiated;
(b) The telephone solicitation is to be made by a person or entity for the purpose of soliciting a contribution or donation to a bona fide nonprofit corporation, regardless of whether consumer goods or services will be provided to the consumer in return for the contribution or donation; or
(c) The consumer will not be telephoned for a telephone solicitation as defined in Section 77-3-705(d), but he will be telephoned for a bona fide religious or charitable purpose, including an invitation to attend an event or a request for a contribution or donation.
In all cases, the telephone solicitor must demonstrate that it will not use an automated dialing system or a method that will block or otherwise circumvent the consumer's use of a caller identification service.
In making its determination of whether to allow a telephone solicitation to be made under the policy which will include the limitations set forth in this section, the commission shall exercise due care in investigating previous conduct of the telephone solicitor seeking such authority. The commission may deny any telephone solicitor the privilege of making telephone solicitations under this section, notwithstanding that any of the criteria set forth in this section have been met.
SECTION 5. Section 77-3-711, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
77-3-711. The provisions of this article shall not apply to:
(a) A person soliciting:
(i) Who does not make the major sales presentation during the telephone solicitation;
(ii) Without the intent to complete or obtain provisional acceptance of a sale during the telephone solicitation; or
(iii) Without the intent to complete, and who does not complete, the sales presentation during the telephone solicitation, but who completes the sales presentation at a later face-to-face meeting between the person soliciting and the prospective purchaser or consumer.
(b) A person who is a licensee under Chapter 35, Title 73, Mississippi Code of 1972, who is a resident of the State of Mississippi, and whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of selling, exchanging, purchasing, renting, listing for sale or rent or leasing real estate in connection with his real estate license and not in conjunction with any other offer.
(c) A motor vehicle dealer as that term is defined in Section 63-17-55, who is a resident of the State of Mississippi and who maintains a current motor vehicle dealer's license issued by the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Commission, whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of selling, offering to sell, soliciting or advertising the sale of motor vehicles in connection with his motor vehicle dealer's license and not in conjunction with any other offer.
(d) An agent as that term is defined in Section 83-17-1 whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of soliciting, consulting, advising, or adjusting in the business of insurance.
(e) A broker-dealer, agent, or investment advisor registered under Chapter 71, Title 75, Mississippi Code of 1972, whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of effecting or attempting to effect the purchase or sale of securities or has the purpose of providing or seeking to provide investment or financial advice.
(f) A person calling on behalf of a charitable organization which is registered under Chapter 11, Title 79, Mississippi Code of 1972, whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of soliciting for the charitable organization and who receives no compensation for his activities on behalf of the organization.
(g) A person calling on behalf of a newspaper of general circulation, whose telephone solicitation is for the sole purpose of soliciting a subscription to the newspaper from, or soliciting the purchase of advertising by, the consumer.
(h) A person calling on behalf of any supervised financial institution or parent, subsidiary or affiliate thereof. As used in this section, "supervised financial institution" means any commercial bank, trust company, savings and loan association, mutual savings bank, credit union, industrial loan company, small loan company, consumer finance lender, commercial finance lender or insurer, provided that the institution has a physical office located in the State of Mississippi and is subject to supervision by an official or agency of the State of Mississippi or of the United States.
(i) A person calling on behalf of a funeral establishment licensed under Section 73-11-41, cemetery or monument dealer, if the sole purpose of the telephone solicitation relates to services provided by the funeral or death related establishments in the course of its ordinary business.
(j) Any telephone solicitor who solicits a consumer with whom he has an established business relationship.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.
