What started out as a typical day at work ended with Ellenbecker traveling to a morgue in Monroe to identify his daughter Malinda Turvey's body. <

Ellenbecker still is a full-time test engineer at Amtelco in McFarland, where he has worked for 27 years. But his main job has become pushing for tighter control of an industry he says dodges employment laws and takes advantage of young people looking for adventurous work. <

Ellenbecker, who lives in Verona, is the impetus behind a bill now pending in the state Legislature that would overhaul regulation of companies that use traveling sales crews to sell magazine subscriptions and other goods. <

Since his daughter's death, Ellenbecker has prodded for state and federal legislation, launched Web sites and networked with investigators and consumer protection groups to track companies that use traveling sales crews. <

If passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the bill would give Wisconsin the most comprehensive laws regulating the traveling sales crew industry in the country, Ellenbecker said. <

Ellenbecker testified at a Senate committee hearing Monday in favor of SB 475. Among other things, the measure would prohibit companies from using minors and independent contractors on traveling sales crews. The use of independent contractors sometimes allows larger companies that profit from traveling sales crews to shield themselves from liability, Ellenbecker said. <

The bill, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, also would require company officials to apply for a state permit and undergo background checks. Employees would also have to be given, in writing, details on pay, hours of work and arrangements for travel and lodging. <

Ellenbecker was joined at the hearing by officials from the state Department of Workforce Development, who said companies often hire minors and young adults from low-income families with promises of high wages. Instead, workers often put in long hours and get short-changed as employers move on to other parts of the country, said JoAnna Richard, a DWD spokeswoman. <

"In other cases, the crew chiefs like to take the workers far away from home, withhold pay to ensure that the workers are dependent upon the crew chief for the daily food and lodging. There have been instances that crew chiefs withhold food and lodging as a means of controlling crew workers," said Richard said. <

Recent high school graduates often are drawn by ads that promise adventure and "fun in the sun," as was the case with Malinda, Ellenbecker said. <

Fourteen people, ranging in age from 15 to 22, were in the van she was riding in when it flipped several times, throwing crew members onto the highway and the median. The driver, who did not have a valid license, was trying to switch seats with a passenger while going 80 mph with police in pursuit, police said. <

While the crash is one of the most well-publicized events involving traveling sales crews in Wisconsin, companies continue to operate "under radar," said Jim Rabbitt, acting administrator for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, which also supports the bill. Rabbitt recalled a case in which the department got a tip and called police in Milwaukee to pull over a traveling sales crew in a van. <

"They had a pile of marijuana in there, and they were giving it to the kids when they made sales," Rabbitt said. <

The Senate Committee on Consumer Affairs, headed by Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, did not vote on the bill Monday but could do so later this week, a Reynolds aide said. <

The bill would not affect nonprofit groups, such as Girl Scouts, or groups that don't travel away from their permanent residences overnight, Erpenbach said. <

Wisconsin's bill wouldn't do much to resolve a nationwide problem, but it would be a start, Ellenbecker said. <

Contact Tom Sheehan at tsheehan@madison.com or 252-6198. <