September 24, 2003

Watch Dodd's Floor Speech on National "Do-Not-Call" List (9/25/03) (1,353,491 Bytes)

Washington, D.C. -Committed to making sure that consumers have the tools they need to protect themselves from intrusive and unwanted telephone solicitations, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today announced his intention to introduce legislation ensuring that, among other things, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) authority to create a national “do not call” registry remains intact. A new U.S. District Court decision rules that the FTC does not have that authority.

“Consumers deserve a legislative lock to keep out telephone solicitors. And unfortunately this court ruling has given telemarketers a new key to open consumers up in the future to annoying and unwanted telemarketing calls. That’s wrong,” said Dodd. “I intend to use any and all tools at my disposal to ensure that consumers ultimately have the ability and right to protect their privacy.”

Dodd’s bill, The Telemarketing Intrusive Practices Act, will closely mirror a bill he and Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) introduced in 2001 to protect consumers from receiving unwanted calls at home by establishing and maintaining a national “do-not-call” registry. The legislation sought to offer consumers a convenient way to make one call to a single number to be put on the “do-not-call” list; prohibit telemarketers from using technology to block caller identification systems; and allow private citizens to take legal action against telemarketers that violate the no-call list.

Dodd’s original legislation spurred the FTC to, by regulatory means, protect consumer’s rights to decide whether or not they want to receive calls from telemarketers. The bill Dodd plans to introduce would codify these regulations.

Dodd’s legislation is similar to a Connecticut law that allows people to contact the state Department of Consumer Protection to place their name on a “do-not-call” list. Creating and maintaining a national do-not-call registry similar to Connecticut’s would offer consumers across America the opportunity for the kind of increased privacy at home from which more than 370,000 Connecticut households have benefitted since the state law was enacted.