State works with feds to preserve no-call list
10:57 PM 9/08/03
Tom Sheehan State government reporter

Gov. Jim Doyle's administration is working to convince federal regulators to protect Wisconsin's no-call list from being overridden by a similar federal program.

State consumer protection officials and representatives of the state attorney general's office met Monday in Madison with Eileen Harrington, associate director of marketing practices for the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said Glen Loyd, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

A federal program that takes effect in October is more lenient on telemarketers than the state law, said Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for Doyle.

The Federal Communication Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are working on details of the federal program.

"There's no reason our rules should be invalidated just because they're more restrictive," Leistikow said.

If a consumer on the state's no-call list cancels long distance service with a company, that company has just one phone call to try to win back the business, Loyd said.

Under the federal program, that same company could continue calling for an 18 months, Loyd said.

State officials are trying to sort out the legalities of having two lists, Loyd said. DATCP is recommending consumers sign up for both. More than 1.1 million are on the state list.

The state's program is unnecessary, said Mick Bennett, a spokesman for Charlton, a Madison-based telemarketing company that serves some Fortune 500 companies. "We feel Wisconsin just needs to scrap their law and go with the federal program. Why are they wasting so much effort to duplicate?" he said.

Federal rules approved by the FCC suggest states may have authority to enforce telemarketing rules on calls placed within the state. But "more restrictive state efforts to regulate interstate calling would almost certainly conflict with our rules," an FCC report issued in July states.

Since the state program's inception on Jan. 1, 2003, state consumer protection officials have referred 19 possible violations of the state's no-call program to Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, Loyd said. The state has sent more than 800 letters, ordering companies to stop wrongful telemarketing practices, Loyd said.

Lautenschlager on Monday filed three lawsuits in three counties against four out-of-state telemarketing companies for allegedly violating state no-call rules.