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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Federal Trade Commission announced on January
3 22, 2002, its intention to create a centralized, national "Do
4 Not Call" registry to allow citizens the opportunity to opt out
5 of receiving telemarketing calls at their homes; and
 
6     WHEREAS, After a year of public hearings, on June 27, 2003,
7 the federal "Do Not Call" registry was opened, allowing
8 consumers to place their own telephone numbers on the list to
9 stop most telemarketing calls; and
 
10     WHEREAS, On the first day the registry was open, over 7
11 million Americans registered their phone numbers; and
 
12     WHEREAS, In the three-month registration period before the
13 Federal Trade Commission began enforcing the "Do Not Call" list
14 on October 1, 2003, over 50 million Americans registered their
15 phone numbers on the list; and
 
16     WHEREAS, By September 30, 2007, over 145.3 million
17 Americans had registered their phone numbers, including 6.5
18 million residents of Illinois; and
 
19     WHEREAS, Under current rules, a number placed on the "Do
20 Not Call" registry will be dropped from the list after five

 

 

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1 years; and
 
2     WHEREAS, Unless the Federal Trade Commission changes its
3 rules or Congress intervenes, the 50 million Americans who had
4 registered before October 1, 2003, will see their phone numbers
5 dropped from the registry between June 27, 2008 and October 1,
6 2008; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Many individuals will not realize their phone
8 number will need to be registered again to stop telemarketers
9 from soliciting again; and
 
10     WHEREAS, It is reasonable that individuals who elected to
11 place their phone numbers on the federal "Do Not Call" registry
12 are likely to wish to keep their numbers on the list, despite
13 the artificial drop date created by bureaucratic rule; and
 
14     WHEREAS, While it is encouraging that the Federal Trade
15 Commission advised Congress on October 23, 2007, that it does
16 not intend to "drop any telephone number from the registry
17 based on the five-year expiration period pending final
18 Congressional or agency action", the citizens of Illinois seek
19 finality to the pending problem; therefore, be it
 
20     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that

 

 

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1 the House believes the federal government should make the
2 registry permanent without requiring citizens to register
3 their phone numbers again; and be it further
 
4     RESOLVED, That Congress and the Federal Trade Commission
5 should make all appropriate law and regulation changes
6 necessary to maintain the "Do Not Call" registry without
7 interruption; and be it further
 
8     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
9 delivered to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and
10 to each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.