C.S.H.B. 149 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 149
By: Solomons
Business & Industry
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under the Texas Telemarketing, Disclosure and Privacy Act, the Public
Utility Commission (PUC) or a third party vendor contracted by the PUC
collects the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of consumers who wish
to have their telephone number registered on the Texas No-Call List.
Currently, the list sold to telemarketers quarterly contains the same
information. Consumers have complained to the PUC that telemarketers
should not have access to all of this information. House Bill 149
strengthens the privacy of consumers registered on the Texas No-Call List. 


RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly
granted to the Public Utility Commission in SECTION  3 of this bill. 

ANALYSIS
House Bill 149 amends the Business and Commerce Code to delete the
requirement that full addresses be collected from consumers wishing to
register on the No-Call List. However, the PUC shall continue to collect
zip codes of consumers to include in the database for the purpose of
creating regional No-Call Lists as required by the Act. All address
information is deleted from the published No-Call List available to
telemarketers. 

House Bill 149 also amends the Government Code to exclude the No-Call List
and the database from the Texas Open Records Act.   


EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of
all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article
III, Texas Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary
for immediate effect, this Act takes September 1, 2003. 



COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.H.B. 149 only differs from the introduced bill, in that it  has been
drafted by Legislative Council.