Sen. Leftwich praises federal nocall law but says it has more exemptions than Oklahoma law

Oklahoma State Senate Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 30 For Immediate Release: June 2, 2003 Clip
Senator Keith Leftwich
Sen. Leftwich praises federal nocall law but says
it has more exemptions than Oklahoma law The federal donotcall legislation that went into effect Friday is important but contains more exemptions than those included in Oklahomas donotcall law, according to Sen. Keith Leftwich, DOKC.
Along with Rep. Jim Newport, RPonca City, Sen. Leftwich sponsored key legislation this session that will automatically forward the names of nearly 00,000 Oklahomans who registered with the states donotcall list before June to the Federal Trade Commissions new list.
However, Leftwich said it is unnecessary for those who register on the state list after June to sign up on the federal list. He said Oklahomans who sign up on the state list will maximize their protection from unwanted telemarketing calls.
The new FTC list says a lot in terms of what weve done in Oklahoma, and we should be proud that our state took the lead on this type of legislation. However, our law contains fewer exemptions than the federal law.
I encourage Oklahomans who havent registered with a donotcall list yet to simply sign up on the state list. Our law has a few more teeth than the federal version, and I think it currently offers superior protection for consumers, Leftwich said.
Some of the exemptions contained in the federal legislation include longdistance telephone companies, airlines, banks, credit unions and insurance companies operating under state regulation. The FTC rules also exempt intrastate telemarketing calls.
Leftwich said that Oklahomas law does not exempt the business types exempted under the federal law, nor does it allow an exemption for instate telemarketers.
Some of the federal exemptions surprise me because they cover many of the areas where I receive the most complaints from constituents. Fortunately, Oklahomas law doesnt contain these exemptions, Leftwich said.
In a meeting Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to adopt most sections of the FTCs new Telemarketing Sales Rule, which will eventually extend the donotcall list to areas currently exempted from the federal list. Leftwich said that Oklahomans will be able to protect themselves in the meantime by registering with Attorney General Drew Edmondsons office.
Our attorney general and his staff have done an outstanding job protecting consumers. I want Oklahomans to know that they can continue to use the state donotcall list and feel confident that they are getting a higher level of protection than what the federal law currently offers.
By the same token, I am also encouraged by the FCCs decision to toughen the federal law. It just goes to show how Oklahomas law has served as an important example of what weve needed on a national scale for quite some time, Leftwich added.
Leftwich said those who also want to register with the FTC list will have until August 3 to include their numbers in the first version. Telemarketing firms will be required to purge those numbers from their calling lists by October .