HBA-BSM, CCH H.B. 3616 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3616 By: Brimer Business & Industry 3/26/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Facsimile devices have become a common medium for advertisements and solicitations. However, current law may not have adequate guidelines to ensure that those solicitations cease upon request. House Bill 3616 provides additional guidelines and establishes administrative and civil penalties for solicitors who do not comply with a person's request to have the solicitations cease. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Public Utility Commission of Texas in SECTION 3 of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 3616 amends the Business & Commerce Code to require a person in this state who makes or causes a facsimile solicitation to include in the document transmitted or on a cover page to the document a conspicuous statement of the complete name of the person making the facsimile solicitation, the street address of the location of the person's place of business, and a toll-free or local exchange accessible telephone number of the person that is answered by an individual capable of responding to inquiries, or that automatically and immediately deletes the specified telephone number of the recipient. If the recipient of a facsimile solicitation notifies the person making or causing the facsimile transmission not to send any further facsimile transmissions to one or more telephone numbers specified by the recipient, the person making the facsimile solicitation is required to send the recipient a written acknowledgment of the recipient's notification within 24 hours and is prohibited from making or causing a transmission to the numbers specified by the recipient. The bill sets forth provisions related to the investigation of consumer complaints and for the assessment of administrative and civil penalties for violations of the provisions of this bill. The bill authorizes a person to bring a private right of action based on a violation to enjoin the violation and for damages. If a court finds that the defendant wilfully or knowingly violated a provision, the court may increase the amount of the award. The bill repeals law pertaining to requests not to receive telephone solicitations and the blocking of telephone solicitations. The bill provides that actions commenced on or after January 1, 2000 related to telephone solicitations shall not be certified or maintained as class actions. The bill requires the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to adopt rules to enforce these provisions. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2002.