Washington HB 1497: Concerning commercial telephone solicitation.

Bill Text

AN ACT Relating to commercial telephone solicitation; amending 1
RCW 80.36.390, 19.158.040, and 19.158.110; and adding a new section 2
to chapter 19.158 RCW.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 80.36.390 and 2015 c 53 s 95 are each amended to 5
read as follows:6
(1) As used in this section, "telephone solicitation" means the 7
unsolicited initiation of a telephone call by a commercial or 8
nonprofit company or organization to a ((residential telephone 9
customer)) person and conversation for the purpose of encouraging 10
((a)) the person to purchase property, goods, or services or 11
soliciting donations of money, property, goods, or services. 12
"Telephone solicitation" does not include:13
(a) Calls made in response to a request or inquiry by the called 14
party. This includes calls regarding an item that has been purchased 15
by the called party from the company or organization during a period 16
not longer than twelve months prior to the telephone contact;17
(b) Calls made by a not-for-profit organization to its own list 18
of bona fide or active members of the organization;19
(c) Calls limited to polling or soliciting the expression of 20
ideas, opinions, or votes; or21
H-0743.1
HOUSE BILL 1497
State of Washington 67th Legislature 2021 Regular Session
By Representatives Mosbrucker, Chandler, Peterson, Dent, Schmick,
Steele, Pollet, Eslick, and Young
Read first time 02/05/21. Referred to Committee on Consumer
Protection & Business.
p. 1 HB 1497

(d) Business-to-business contacts.1
For purposes of this section, each individual real estate agent 2
or insurance agent who maintains a separate list from other 3
individual real estate or insurance agents shall be treated as a 4
company or organization. For purposes of this section, an 5
organization as defined in RCW 29A.04.086 or 29A.04.097 and organized 6
pursuant to chapter 29A.80 RCW shall not be considered a commercial 7
or nonprofit company or organization.8
(2) ((A person making a telephone solicitation must identify him 9
or herself and the company or organization on whose behalf the 10
solicitation is being made and the purpose of the call within the 11
first thirty seconds of the telephone call.12
(3))) As used in this section, "telephone solicitor" means a 13
commercial or nonprofit company or organization engaged in telephone 14
solicitation.15
(3)(a) At the beginning of each answered call, a telephone 16
solicitor must:17
(i) Identify the caller;18
(ii) Identify the company or organization on whose behalf the 19
solicitation is being made;20
(iii) State the purpose of the call; and21
(iv) Ask the called party whether they want to continue the call, 22
end the call, or be removed from the solicitor's telephone lists.23
(b) The disclosures and question required by this subsection must 24
be conveyed in the listed order immediately after the call recipient 25
answers and completed within 30 seconds.26
(4) If, at any time during the telephone contact, the called 27
party states or indicates they want to end the call, the telephone 28
solicitor must end the call within 10 seconds.29
(5) If, at any time during the telephone contact, the called 30
party states or indicates that he or she does not ((wish)) want to be 31
called again by the ((company or organization)) telephone solicitor 32
or wants to have his or her name ((and)), individual telephone 33
number, or other contact information removed from the telephone lists 34
used by the ((company or organization making the telephone 35
solicitation, then)) telephone solicitor:36
(a) The telephone solicitor shall inform the called party that 37
his or her contact information will be removed from the telephone 38
solicitor's telephone lists for at least one year;39
(b) The telephone solicitor shall end the call within 10 seconds;40
p. 2 HB 1497

(c) The ((company or organization)) telephone solicitor shall not 1
make any additional telephone solicitation of the called party at 2
((that telephone number)) any telephone number associated with that 3
party within a period of at least one year; and4
(((b))) (d) The ((company or organization)) telephone solicitor 5
shall not sell or give the called party's name ((and)), telephone 6
number, and other contact information to another company or 7
organization: PROVIDED, That the ((company or organization)) 8
telephone solicitor may return the list, including the called party's 9
name ((and)), telephone number, and other contact information to the 10
company or organization from which it received the list.11
(((4))) (6) A telephone solicitor shall not place calls to any 12
person which will be received before 8:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. at 13
the call recipient's local time.14
(7) A violation of subsection (((2) or)) (3), (4), (5), or (6) of 15
this section is punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars 16
for each violation.17
(((5))) (8) The attorney general may bring actions to enforce 18
compliance with this section