17590. (a) There is a compelling state interest to protect the privacy of residential or wireless telephone subscribers who wish to avoid unsolicited and unwanted telephone solicitations. For the purposes of this article, a residential or wireless telephone subscriber shall be referred to as a subscriber.
(b) The act of becoming a subscriber should not undermine or lessen a person’s right of privacy as guaranteed under Section 1 of Article I of the California Constitution.
(c) Congress has passed and the President has signed the “Do-Not-Call Implementation Act” (H.R. 395) which authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to implement and enforce a national “do not call” registry. The FTC has decided to create as part of the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 C.F.R. 310) a single nationwide Do Not Call Registry (16 C.F.R. 310.4 (b)(1)(iii)(B)), which is anticipated to be fully implemented by the late fall of 2003. Thus, it is the intent of the Legislature to adopt the California telephone numbers on the national “do not call” registry as the California “do not call” registry. Doing so will have many benefits for California residents and businesses. For instance, it is free for consumers to register on the national registry; California residents will only have to register on one registry, instead of two; registration on the national registry is only required once every five years; and businesses affected by the law will only be required to purchase one registry, instead of two. Additionally, adopting the California telephone numbers on the national “do not call” registry as the California “do not call” registry will mean that California does not have to set up its own administrative system to develop and maintain a California only “do not call” registry, thus saving California tax payers millions of dollars.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 779, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)
Structure California Code