OKLAHOMA CITY – A measure endorsed by a state legislative committee would make it a crime to cause misleading information to be transmitted to a recipient’s caller identification service or device “or to otherwise misrepresent the origin of a telemarketing call.”
House Bill 1891 received a unanimous “do pass” recommendation from the Technology Committee in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and was referred to the full House for a floor vote.
“Many times when I answer my cell phone the call looks like it’s from someone in my legislative district,” said Rep. Danny Williams. “But instead it’s somebody saying the warranty on my car has expired,” the Seminole Republican said.
Rep. Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, noted that the Federal Trade Commission already has a “do not call” registry “and we can’t even enforce that,” so how can Oklahoma enforce what’s proposed in HB 1891?
Although there are federal laws against this practice, “We need to have our own standards here in Oklahoma,” Williams said. If the Legislature will pass HB 1891, “Maybe we can come back next year with some way to provide a penalty that can be enforced.”
“I, too, get those warranty calls,” Fetgatter told Williams, adding, “And sometimes they even call me from my own phone number.”