Senate Leader Kills Anti-Telemarketing Bill
SACRAMENTO — State Senate leader John L. Burton on Wednesday unilaterally killed a measure to prohibit unsolicited calls from telemarketers.
Legislation, SB 988, introduced by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) would have created a “do not call me” list in the attorney general’s office and prohibited telemarketers from calling consumers whose phone numbers appeared on the list.
The measure was opposed by a variety of businesses, including telephone companies, retailers, newspaper publishers and real estate agents and brokers who managed to stall it on an initial vote.
It eventually cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee and was headed for the Senate floor. But en route, it was discovered that the second vote violated Senate parliamentary rules.
Figueroa appealed to the Rules Committee for a waiver, but Burton (D-San Francisco), chairman of the committee and an opponent of the bill, denied her request Wednesday.
He called the bill “silly” and unenforceable. He said its many exemptions to the list made it meaningless.
Liz Fenton, a spokeswoman for Figueroa, said the senator intends to amend another of her bills to include the telemarketer restrictions.
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