DORGAN BILL TO PREVENT "DO NOT CALL" LIST FROM EXPIRING WINS SENATE PASSAGE
Without it, telephones will start ringing again next year
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- Legislation by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to prevent a resumption of dinner time phone calls from telemarketers next year won approval from the full Senate late Monday.
As many as 145 million Americans, including 350,000 North Dakotans have signed onto the “Do Not Call” registry since it was created in 2003, but most are unaware their registration on the list will begin to expire after September 30, 2008, Dorgan said.
Dorgan’s bill would prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from automatically expiring numbers and removing them from the registry without a specific request from the telephone owner.
When Congress established the “Do Not Call” registry in 2003, it quickly became one of the most popular consumer protection programs in history. Congress did not require automatic expiration of “Do Not Call” list registrations – that was an agency ruling.
“Congress intended that once you signed up for the ‘Do Not Call’ registry you were on it until you asked to be taken off,” Dorgan said. “That’s what this bill intends to re-establish. Without it, millions of Americans will either need to start re-registering on October 1, 2008, or get ready to hear their telephones ring during supper time again with unwanted, commercial solicitation calls.”
Dorgan said he expects the “Do Not Call Improvement Act of 2007” to quickly move to the White House for the President to sign into law.
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