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Mar. 13, 2001 Life
in the Legislature I spoke this week at an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) conference being held at the capital. I talked about SB-093, the Colorado No Call List (Telemarketing) Bill being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Chlouber (R) - Leadville. As I approached the podium the host stated that AARP members support the bill by an incredible 98 percent margin! Unfortunately, I was not the cheerleader I had planned to be with the seniors. I had just come from a meeting with the Speaker of the House, Rep. Doug Dean (R) Colorado Springs, where I was told that the No Call List Bill was destined to be assigned to the infamous State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee once it got out of the Senate. I had gone to the Speaker to ask that he assign the bill to my Business Affairs and Labor Committee, the same committee the bill was assigned last year. The dreaded State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, aka the Speaker's "Kill Committee," is comprised of mostly Colorado Springs Republicans who might otherwise lend a favorable ear to the Speaker. This is not a new phenomena in the legislature but I certainly did not think such a bipartisan, overwhelmingly popular bill would be sentenced to that committee. Oh well, I love a good fight! It seems the Speaker was a telemarketer in a previous life and that he had particular heartburn with provisions in the bill. He said that there is a significant presence of telemarketers in Colorado Springs that the bill would negatively impact. I was told that the telemarketers were having unreasonable restrictions placed on them that might reduce their workload and cause for layoffs. While I was tempted to say, "And your point is?", I didn't. I pointed out that, by eliminating people who did not want to be called, they increased productivity by calling only those who wanted to be called. I do not see this bill as detrimental to the industry. He also protested that the telemarketers would be placed under an overly strict penalty provision of up to $2000 for each violation. I countered with the fact that this bill retains much less of a penalty than many states had enacted and that violations, unless representing stiff penalties, would be ignored. The fact remains that I am carrying the bill because this industry has become a plague upon our privacy and unless they agree to pay for my phone bill, I want stiff penalties should they ignore my request. Finally the Speaker claimed that the telemarketers had their own no-call list, eliminating the need for this bill. I asked if the current list was on the Internet? No. I asked if one could register by phone? No. I asked why the current list required all the unnecessary information to be registered and if that information was being sold to other forms of mass marketing. Certainly not! I asked if there were any penalties for non compliance by the telemarketers? No. However, I was informed that the telemarketers were coming up with an internet registration and would be online soon. Yeah, right! Sorry Mr. Speaker, I can see right through that one! I gave the AARP a list of all of the members of the State Veterans and Military Affair scommittee, their e-mail addresses, phone numbers and capital addresses ... and, oh yes, the Speaker's name is also on that list. I hope multiple contacts will help them resist the temptation to ignore the 82% of Coloradoans who approve of this bill. By the way, the Bighorn Center in Denver is the developer and promoter of the program that will drive the No Call List. Since this bill was introduced, there are over 20,000 people already signed up. I informed the Speaker that there would be 20,000 very unhappy voters should this bill fail due to his special interests game playing. I guess I am supposed to be more reverent, but it is this type of politics that make people distrust our system of government. To sign up, go to < http://www.coloradonocall.org >. |
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