Public Act 93-0049

HB3407 Enrolled                      LRB093 10501 MBS 10755 b

    AN ACT concerning business transactions.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.   The Restricted Call Registry Act is amended
by changing Sections 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 as follows:

    (815 ILCS 402/10)
    Sec. 10.  Prohibited calls.  Beginning  October  July  1,
2003,  it  is  a  violation  of this Act for any no person or
entity to  may  make  or  cause  to  be  made  any  telephone
solicitation calls to any residential subscriber more than 45
days  after  the person or entity obtains the Registry or any
update of the Registry on which the residential  subscriber's
telephone number or numbers first appear on the Registry.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    (815 ILCS 402/20)
    Sec. 20.  Registry; establishment and maintenance.
    (a)  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish and
provide  for  the  operation  of  a Restricted Call Registry,
which shall contain  a  list  of  the  telephone  numbers  of
residential  subscribers who do not wish to receive telephone
solicitation  calls.  The  national  "do-not-call"   registry
established  and  maintained by the Federal Trade Commission,
pursuant to 16 C.F.R. 310.4 (b)(1)(iii)(B),  shall  serve  as
the  Registry  provided  by  this Act.  The Illinois Commerce
Commission may contract with a private  vendor  to  establish
and maintain the Registry if the contract requires the vendor
to provide
    (b)  Residential  subscribers  may  cause their telephone
number or numbers to appear on the Registry in a printed hard
copy format, in an electronic format, and in any manner other
format prescribed by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
    (c)  Any   person   or   entity   conducting    telephone
solicitation  calls  as  defined  by Section 5(e) of this Act
within the State of Illinois shall  purchase  the  Restricted
Call  Registry  and  updates  no less frequently than every 3
months exclusively from the Federal Trade  Illinois  Commerce
Commission.  Failure  to  do so prior to conducting telephone
solicitation calls is a violation subject  to  the  penalties
provided for in Section 35 of this Act.
    (d)(b)  No  later  than  January  1,  2003,  The Illinois
Commerce Commission may shall  adopt  rules  consistent  with
this   Act   that  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission  deems
necessary and appropriate to fully implement  this  Act.  The
rules  shall  include,  at  a  minimum,  methods by which any
person or entity  desiring  to  make  telephone  solicitation
calls  may obtain access to the Registry to avoid calling the
telephone numbers of residential subscribers included in  the
Registry.
    (c)  The fee for obtaining the Registry and updates shall
be  set  forth  in  rules  adopted  by  the Illinois Commerce
Commission. The fee may not exceed $1,000  annually  and  may
not  exceed  the  costs  incurred  by  the  Commission in the
preparation, maintenance, production, and distribution of the
Registry. All copies requested in a printed hard copy  format
shall  be  assessed  a per page fee to be determined by rules
adopted by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
    (d)  The Illinois Commerce Commission  shall  update  the
Registry  and make information in the Registry available on a
quarterly basis in an electronic format that can be sorted by
individual fields and, if deemed appropriate by the  Illinois
Commerce Commission, in one or more other formats.
    (e)  If  the Federal Communications Commission or Federal
Trade Commission establishes a single  national  database  of
telephone  numbers  of  subscribers  who  object to receiving
telephone solicitations, which restricts both inter-state and
intra-state calls and  at  a  minimum  covers  all  telephone
solicitations   covered   by   this  Act,  this  State  shall
discontinue the Registry.
    (e)(f)  Information pertaining to residential subscribers
Information in the Registry  is  confidential  and  shall  be
afforded  reasonable  privacy  protection except as necessary
for compliance with Sections 10 and 25 and this Section or in
a  proceeding  or  action  under  Section  35  or   40.   The
information  is  not  a  public  record  under the Freedom of
Information Act.
    (g)  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall  periodically
obtain  subscription  listings  of residential subscribers in
this State who have arranged to be included in  any  national
do-not-call list and add those names to the Registry.
    (f)(h)  A  person  or  entity  that  obtains the Registry
shall not use the Registry for  any  purpose  other  than  to
comply  with  this  Act. These unlawful purposes include, but
are not limited to, causing a subscriber  to  participate  in
and  be  included  in  the  Registry without the subscriber's
knowledge or consent, selling or leasing the  Registry  to  a
person  other  than a telephone solicitor, selling or leasing
by a telephone solicitor of the  Registry,  and  a  telephone
solicitor,   either  directly  or  indirectly,  persuading  a
subscriber  with  whom  it  has   an   established   business
relationship  to  place  his  or  her telephone number in the
Registry, if the solicitation has the  effect  of  preventing
competitors from contacting that solicitor's customers.
    (g)(i)  No   person   or   entity   that  sells,  leases,
exchanges, or rents telephone solicitation lists, except  for
directory   assistance  and  telephone  directories  sold  by
telephone companies or their  affiliates,  shall  include  in
those  lists  those  telephone  numbers  that  appear  in the
current Registry.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    (815 ILCS 402/25)
    Sec.   25.  Notice   of   establishment   of    Registry.
Enrollment.   (a)  The  Illinois  Commerce  Commission  shall
provide    notice   to   residential   subscribers   of   the
establishment of the Registry.
    (b)  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall establish any
method deemed appropriate for  a  residential  subscriber  to
notify  the Illinois Commerce Commission that the residential
subscriber wishes to have its telephone number included in or
remain on the Registry.
    (c)  The Commission may, by  rule,  set  an  initial  fee
which  shall  not  exceed  $5  per residential subscriber for
inclusion on the Restricted Call Registry.    The  Commission
shall  review the revenues and expenditures of the Restricted
Call Registry on a biennial basis and shall, by rule,  reduce
the  fee  accordingly  if  revenues  exceed expenditures. The
Commission may  adopt  rules  and  procedures  governing  the
acceptance  of payment by credit card and may enter into such
agreements as necessary to accept payment by credit card.
    (d)  A residential subscriber's telephone number shall be
deleted from the Registry upon the  residential  subscriber's
written request.
    (e)  Enrollment  in  the  Registry  is effective from the
start of the quarter following the date of enrollment  for  a
term   of   5  years  or  until  the  residential  subscriber
disconnects or changes his or her  telephone  number,  unless
the  subscriber  complies with the notice provision contained
in this Section, whichever  occurs  first.   The  residential
subscriber  shall be permitted to extend their enrollment for
additional 5 year periods and shall not be subject to any fee
for  this   extension.    The   residential   subscriber   is
responsible for notifying the Illinois Commerce Commission of
any  changes  in  his  or  her telephone number. The Illinois
Commerce Commission shall use  its  best  efforts  to  notify
enrolled residential subscribers before the end of the 5-year
enrollment  term  of  the  option to extend their enrollment.
Residential subscribers who do not indicate their  desire  to
extend  their  enrollment  before  the end of the 5-year term
shall be given  a  one  quarter  grace  period  before  being
removed from the Registry.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    (815 ILCS 402/30)
    Sec.  30.  Public  notification.  The  Illinois  Commerce
Commission  shall work with local exchange telecommunications
companies  to   notify   disseminate   to   their   customers
information  about  the  availability of and instructions for
requesting  information  educational  literature   from   the
Illinois   Commerce   Commission.   The   Illinois   Commerce
Commission may enter into agreements with those companies for
the   dissemination  of  the  educational  literature.  Local
exchange  telecommunications  companies  shall  provide  this
notice disseminate the educational literature at  least  once
per  year  in  a  message  contained in customers' bills or a
notice  in  the  information   section   of   all   telephone
directories  distributed  to  customers  and shall include on
their website a link to the ICC's web page for the  Registry.
The  Illinois  Commerce  Commission  shall  include,  on  its
Internet  web  site, information to customers regarding their
right to be included in the Registry and the various methods,
including notice to  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission,  of
being   included  in  the  Registry.  The  Illinois  Commerce
Commission  shall  develop  language  to  be  used  by  local
exchange   telecommunications   carriers   and   shall   make
information  available  on  its  web  site  shall  have  this
literature developed for dissemination to the public no later
than July March 1, 2003.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    (815 ILCS 402/35)
    Sec. 35.  Violation; relief.
    (a)  The  Illinois  Commerce  Commission   may   initiate
administrative  proceedings  in accordance with rules adopted
under this Act relating to a knowing and willful violation of
Section 10.
    (b)  If it is determined after a hearing  that  a  person
has  knowingly  and willfully violated one or more provisions
of this Section, the Illinois Commerce Commission may  assess
a  fine  not to exceed $1,000 for the first violation and not
to exceed $2,500 for a second or subsequent  violation.  Each
individual  violation  of  Section  10 of this Act shall be a
separate  and  distinct  offense  under  this  Section.    In
imposing  a penalty under this Section, the Commission shall,
at a minimum, consider the following factors:
         (1)  whether the offense was knowing or willful;
         (2)  whether the entity committing the offense has a
    prior history of non-compliance with this Act;
         (3)  the  offender's  relative  ability  to  pay   a
    penalty;
         (4)  whether  the offender has or has not cooperated
    with the Commission in pursuing the investigation; and
         (5)  such other special, mitigating  or  aggravating
    circumstances as the Commission may find to exist.
    (c)  Any  proceeding  conducted  under  this  Section  is
subject to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.
    (d)  Nothing in this Section may be construed to restrict
any  right that any person may have under any other law or at
common law.
    (e)  No action or proceeding may be  brought  under  this
Section:
         (1)  more  than  one  year after the person bringing
    the action knew or should have known of the occurrence of
    the alleged violation; or
         (2)  more than one year after the termination of any
    proceeding or action arising out of the same violation or
    violations by the State of Illinois, whichever is later.
    (f)  The remedies, duties, prohibitions, and penalties in
this Act are not exclusive and are in addition to  all  other
causes of action, remedies, and penalties provided by law.
    (g)  There  is  created  in  the State Treasury a special
fund to be known as the Restricted Call  Registry  Fund.  All
fees   and   fines   collected   in  the  administration  and
enforcement of this Act shall be  deposited  into  the  Fund.
Moneys  in  the Fund shall, subject to appropriation, be used
by  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission  for  implementation,
administration, and enforcement of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    (815 ILCS 402/40)
    Sec. 40.  Exemption.
    (a)  A person or  entity  may  not  be  held  liable  for
violating this Act if:
         (1)  the person or entity has obtained copies of the
    Registry  and  updates  in  compliance with this Act each
    updated Registry from the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission
    and  has established and implemented written policies and
    procedures related to the requirements of this Act;
         (2)  the person or entity has trained its  personnel
    in the requirements of this Act;
         (3)  the   person   or   entity   maintains  records
    demonstrating compliance with subdivisions (1) and (2) of
    this Section and the requirements of this Act; and
         (4)  any subsequent telephone  solicitation  is  the
    result of unintentional error.
    (b)  A  person or entity that has entered into a contract
with another person or entity to make telephone solicitations
on its behalf is not liable for a violation of  this  Act  by
the person or entity making telephone solicitations under the
contract  if  the  person  or  entity  on  whose  behalf  the
telephone   solicitations  were  made  has  provided  written
notification  to  the  person  or  entity  making   telephone
solicitations  under  the  contract  that  it is necessary to
comply with the provisions of this Act when making  telephone
solicitations.
(Source: P.A. 92-795, eff. 8-9-02.)

    Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.