A new law signed by Governor Jay Inslee restricts bothersome telephone solicitations. House Bill 1497 “An Act Relating to Commercial Telephone Solicitations passed the State Senate 47-0 and the State House 90-5 becomes effective in June 2022.
What the new law does
- Restricts telephone solicitation to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m;
- Requires telephone solicitors to provide identifying information within the first 30 seconds of a call, and to end the call within 10 seconds of the called party indicating they want to end the call;
- Requires telephone solicitors requesting a donation or gift of money to provide a specific list of options to the called party; and
- Expands the definition of telephone solicitation to include calls to nonresidential telephone customers.
List removal
At any point during the call, if the called party states or indicates that they do not want to be
called again or want to have their contact information removed from the solicitor’s
telephone lists, the solicitor:
- Must inform the called party their contact information will
be removed for at least one year; - Must end the call within 10 seconds;
- Must not contact the called party again at any number associated with that party for at least one year; and
- Must not sell or give away the called party’s contact information. The list removal
provision is made consistent between the Telephone Solicitation Act and the Commercial Telephone Solicitation Regulation Act.
Penalties
Violations of the call time restrictions or identification and opt-out, call termination, or list
removal requirements are subject to a $1,000 fine for each violation under the TSA.
In addition, under the CTSRA, the Department of Licensing may take disciplinary action when a
commercial telephone solicitor engages in unprofessional conduct under the Uniform
Regulation of Business and Professions Act, or:
- Engages in any unfair or deceptive commercial telephone solicitation;
- Places calls to a person that will be received before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m.;
- Engages in conduct to harass, intimidate, or torment any person in connection with the call;
- Fails to provide the required identification and opt-out at the beginning of each answered call;
- Fails to end a call within 10 seconds of the called party stating or indicating that they want to end the call; or
- fails to promptly implement a called party’s statement or indication that they do not want to receive further calls.
Centralia and Olympia Attorneys
For a consultation with an Althauser Rayan Abbarno attorney in Centralia or Olympia, call (360) 736-1301 or visit CentraliaLaw.com
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