ASSEMBLY CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND REGULATED PROFESSIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1825

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: AUGUST 15, 1996

      The Assembly Consumer Affairs and Regulated Professions Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 1825.

      As amended, this bill prohibits the making of intrastate telephone calls to deliver any recorded message, other than a call made for emergency purposes, unless the recorded message is introduced by a live operator who obtains the consent of the person called, or unless a prior or current relationship exists between the caller and the person called. Automated recorded telephone operator introductions for the purpose of accepting a call or message, however, are excluded from this prohibition.

      The bill amends current State law to prohibit only the making of intrastate telephone calls to deliver a recorded commercial message. In the case of Lysaght v. State of N.J., 837 F.Supp. 646 (D.N.J.1993) the enforcement of the current law was enjoined because the court held that the law was likely to violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

      The bill makes the State law similar to the federal "Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991," 47 U.S.C. §227 (b)(1), which prohibits the making of interstate telephone calls to deliver recorded messages without the prior consent of the party called, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by rule or order of the Federal Communications Commission. The constitutionality of the federal law was upheld in the case of Moser v. F.C.C., 46 F.3d. 970 (9th Cir. 1995).

      The amendments exclude automated recorded telephone operator introductions for the purpose of accepting a call or message from the bill's provisions. The amendments also delete the word "business" from describing the relationship between caller and subscriber as this law, as amended by the bill, no longer applies only to commercial recorded messages. In addition, the amendments clarify that an emergency purpose is one immediately affecting the health and safety of consumers and that the provisions of the law apply only to intrastate telephone calls.