1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to disconnection of a telephone call made by an automated
1-3 dial announcing device.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 37.02(a), Business & Commerce Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) A telephone solicitor may not make a consumer telephone
1-8 call to a consumer unless:
1-9 (1) the telephone solicitor identifies himself or
1-10 herself by name and identifies the business on whose behalf the
1-11 telephone solicitor is calling and the purpose of the call
1-12 immediately after making contact with the consumer to whom the call
1-13 is made;
1-14 (2) the telephone solicitor makes the call after 12
1-15 noon or before 9 p.m. on a Sunday or after 9 a.m. and before 9
1-16 p.m. on a weekday or a Saturday; and
1-17 (3) for those calls in which an automated dial
1-18 announcing device is used, [where technically possible,] the device
1-19 must disconnect the consumer's telephone line within the period
1-20 provided by Section 55.126, Utilities Code, [30 seconds] after
1-21 termination of the call by either the telephone solicitor or the
1-22 consumer.
1-23 SECTION 2. Section 55.126, Utilities Code, is amended to
1-24 read as follows:
2-1 Sec. 55.126. DEVICE DISCONNECTION. A person may not use an
2-2 automated dial announcing device to make a telephone call in which
2-3 the device plays a recorded message when the connection is
2-4 completed unless the device disconnects from the called person's
2-5 line not later than five [30] seconds after the call is terminated
2-6 by either party. If the device cannot disconnect during that
2-7 period, a live operator must introduce the call and receive the
2-8 called person's oral consent before beginning a prerecorded or
2-9 synthesized voice message.
2-10 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 450 was passed by the House on May 3,
1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 450 was passed by the Senate on May
26, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor