HOUSE BILL No. 4250


     February 11, 1999, Introduced by Reps. DeHart, Hale, Scott, Cherry, Kelly, Tesanovich, Wojno, Schermesser, Schauer, Garza, Martinez, Brater, Bogardus, Mans, Prusi, Sanborn, Minore, Jellema and LaForge and referred to the Committee on Family and Civil Law.


        A bill to regulate certain sales solicitations; to prescribe

   the powers and duties of certain governmental officials; and to

   prescribe remedies and penalties.

               THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 1         Sec. 1.  As used in this act:

 2         (a) "Department" means the department of consumer and indus-

 3    try services.

 4         (b) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation,

 5    association, or other legal entity.

 6         (c) "Telephone sales solicitation" means a telephonic

 7    attempt to induce an individual to purchase, invest in, or other-

 8    wise obtain an interest in real property or in a consumer good,

 9    service, or commodity.  Telephone sales solicitation does not

10    include any of the following:




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 1         (i) A telephonic solicitation made to an individual in

 2    accordance with a prior or existing relationship formed by a

 3    voluntary communication between a person and the individual, with

 4    or without an exchange of consideration, on the basis of the

 5    individual's inquiry, application, purchase, or transaction

 6    relating to a product or service offered by the person, if that

 7    relationship has not been previously terminated by either party.

 8         (ii) A telephonic solicitation made by an organization

 9    exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the internal rev-

10    enue code of 1986.

11         (iii) A telephone call made with the intent to engage the

12    individual receiving the call in a subsequent in-person meeting

13    at which a sales solicitation will be made.

14         (iv) A telephone solicitation that is isolated and not part

15    of a pattern of solicitations regularly made by the solicitor in

16    the ordinary course of business.

17         (v) A telephonic solicitation made by a person who maintains

18    a do-not-call list required by the federal communications commis-

19    sion under subpart L of chapter 64 of title 47 of the code of

20    federal regulations.

21         (vi) A telephone solicitation by an employer of less than 25

22    employees, unless that employer is sufficiently related to

23    another employer to qualify with that other employer as a single

24    employer under section 414(b) or (c) of the internal revenue code

25    of 1986.

26         Sec. 2.  An individual who does not wish to receive

27    telephone sales solicitations may file with the department a



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 1    written statement, in a form and manner prescribed by the

 2    department, that expressly provides that the individual wishes to

 3    have his or her name, address, and telephone number placed on a

 4    list of those to whom a telephone sales solicitation shall not be

 5    made.

 6         Sec. 3.  (1) The department shall maintain a list of names,

 7    addresses, and telephone numbers of individuals described in sec-

 8    tion 1 and, subject to terms and conditions that the department

 9    may prescribe, make that list available to any person upon the

10    person's request.  The list shall be subdivided by geographic

11    regions, zip codes, area codes, and the first 3 digits of tele-

12    phone numbers.  The department may charge a person who seeks to

13    obtain a copy of the list or subdivision of the list a fee that

14    reflects the department's actual cost of providing the requested

15    copy of the list or subdivision of the list.  The department

16    shall update the list January 1 of each year.

17         (2) A person who reviews or obtains a copy of the list

18    described in subsection (1) shall not disclose information con-

19    tained on the list to another person.  This subsection does not

20    apply to a disclosure to the person's agent or employee, a law

21    enforcement officer, or the department, or a disclosure made in

22    accordance with a court order.

23         (3) An individual may have his or her name removed from the

24    list described in subsection (1) by providing the department with

25    a written request for the removal.







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 1         (4) The department may promulgate rules under the

 2    administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to

 3    24.328, to implement and administer this act.

 4         Sec. 4.  A person, other than an organization exempt from

 5    taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code,

 6    shall not make a telephone sales solicitation to an individual in

 7    this state if that individual's name and address have been on the

 8    list described in section 2 for more than 30 days.

 9         Sec. 5.  Subject to section 7, a person who violates this

10    act is subject to a civil fine of not more than $250.00 per

11    violation.

12         Sec. 6.  Subject to section 7, a person aggrieved by a vio-

13    lation of this act may bring a civil action and recover his or

14    her actual damages or $500.00, whichever is greater, plus reason-

15    able attorney fees and costs.

16         Sec. 7.  The penalties and remedies described in sections 5

17    and 6 do not apply to a person who is determined liable for a

18    penalty or remedy prescribed by federal law for conduct prohib-

19    ited by this act.

20         Enacting section 1.  This act takes effect January 1, 1999.

















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