Rep. Karen May
Filed: 4/1/2008
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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4999
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4999 by replacing | ||||||
3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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4 | "Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by | ||||||
5 | changing Section 26-3 as follows:
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6 | (720 ILCS 5/26-3) (from Ch. 38, par. 26-3)
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7 | Sec. 26-3. Use of a facsimile machine in unsolicited | ||||||
8 | advertising or fund-raising.
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9 | (a) Definitions . In this Section : | ||||||
10 | (0.5) "Established business relationship" means a prior
or | ||||||
11 | existing relationship formed by a voluntary 2-way
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12 | communication between a person or entity, including | ||||||
13 | associations, and a business or residential subscriber with or | ||||||
14 | without an exchange of consideration, on the basis of an | ||||||
15 | inquiry, application, purchase, or transaction by the business | ||||||
16 | or residential subscriber regarding products, services, or |
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1 | information offered by such person or entity, which | ||||||
2 | relationship has not been
previously terminated by either | ||||||
3 | party.
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4 | (1) "Facsimile machine" means equipment which has the | ||||||
5 | capacity: | ||||||
6 | (A) to transcribe text or images, or both, from paper | ||||||
7 | into an electronic signal and to transmit that signal over | ||||||
8 | a regular telephone line, or | ||||||
9 | (B) to transcribe text or images, or both, from an | ||||||
10 | electronic signal received over a regular telephone line | ||||||
11 | onto paper a device which is capable of sending or
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12 | receiving facsimiles of documents through connection with | ||||||
13 | a
telecommunications network .
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14 | (2) "Person" means an individual, public or private | ||||||
15 | corporation, unit of
government, partnership or unincorporated | ||||||
16 | association , except that for the purposes
of subsection (d) of | ||||||
17 | this Section, "person" means any
natural person and any | ||||||
18 | corporate or other entity. | ||||||
19 | (3) "Unsolicited advertising" has the same
meaning as in 47 | ||||||
20 | U.S.C. 227 .
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21 | (b) No person shall knowingly use a facsimile machine to | ||||||
22 | send or cause
to be sent to another person a facsimile of a | ||||||
23 | document containing
unsolicited advertising or fund-raising | ||||||
24 | material, except to
a person which the sender knows or under | ||||||
25 | all of the circumstances
reasonably believes has given the | ||||||
26 | sender permission, either on a case by
case or continuing |
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1 | basis, for the sending of such material.
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2 | (c) Sentence. Any person who violates subsection (b) is | ||||||
3 | guilty of a petty
offense and shall be fined an amount not to | ||||||
4 | exceed $500.
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5 | (d) Civil remedies. A person who uses or causes the use of
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6 | a facsimile machine to send unsolicited advertising is liable
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7 | in a civil action to the recipient, or other person who
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8 | suffered damages as a result of the violation. The recipient or
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9 | other person suffering damages may: | ||||||
10 | (1) bring an action to enjoin such violation; | ||||||
11 | (2) bring an action to recover actual damages from such
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12 | a violation or to receive $1,000 in damages for each such
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13 | violation, whichever is greater; and | ||||||
14 | (3) in either event (1) or (2) of this subsection (d),
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15 | recover court costs, attorney's fees, or any other relief
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16 | the court deems proper. | ||||||
17 | (e) Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 95th General
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18 | Assembly affects the availability of relief under State or
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19 | federal law for facsimiles sent prior to the effective date of
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20 | this amendatory Act. | ||||||
21 | (f) A criminal prosecution or conviction is not a condition
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22 | of a civil action under this Section. | ||||||
23 | (g) Nothing in this Section prohibits the use of a
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24 | facsimile machine to send unsolicited advertising or
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25 | fund-raising material if the sender has an established business
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26 | relationship with the recipient of the facsimile transmission
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1 | and the recipient is provided a toll-free number to call or | ||||||
2 | email address to contact to be excluded from receiving | ||||||
3 | facsimile transmissions by the sender. However, if the sender | ||||||
4 | continues to send unsolicited advertising or fund-raising | ||||||
5 | material to the recipient after the recipient calls the | ||||||
6 | toll-free number or emails the address provided and requests | ||||||
7 | not to be sent the unsolicited advertising or fund-raising | ||||||
8 | material by the sender and the recipient can document such a | ||||||
9 | request (including method of contact, date, time, person spoken | ||||||
10 | to and promised outcome), the provisions of subsections (b), | ||||||
11 | (c), and (d) of this Section apply. If a business contracts | ||||||
12 | with a national facsimile transmission service to send | ||||||
13 | unsolicited advertising or fund-raising material, the national | ||||||
14 | facsimile transmission
service must prove that the sender | ||||||
15 | contracted for such service
in order for the sender to be | ||||||
16 | liable for the criminal and civil
penalties provided in this | ||||||
17 | Section. | ||||||
18 | (Source: P.A. 86-555.)
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19 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
20 | becoming law.".
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