Source: http://info.dnc.com/categories/new-legislation
Timestamp: 2017-03-25 02:00:12
Document Index: 331062652

Matched Legal Cases: ['in Fine', 'in Fine', 'in Fine', '§ 310', '§ 310', '§ 310', '§ 310', '§ 310', '§ 310', '§ 310']

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EventsCompliance UpdatesCompliance SummitsTCPA NewsTCPA Compliance TipsWebinarsState Holiday AlertsRegulatory EnforcementNew LegislationClass Action Settlements Caller ID Legislation Signed Into Law By New York Governor 12/28/2016
Caller ID Legislation Signed Into Law By New York Governor
12/28/2016 Earlier this month, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed new caller ID legislation (S6809B/A.9457A) into law, requiring telemarketers to transmit correct caller identification information.
This means, under local law, that telemarketers making calls into New York State will no longer be able to legally disguise the information that appears on call recipients' caller IDs. The law, which passed through the state legislature unanimously before being signed by Governor Cuomo, aims to "prohibit telemarketers from transmitting inaccurate, misleading, or false caller identification information to consumers." Senator Valesky, one of the original bill's sponsors, summarized the issue while the bill was being considered: "I have heard from constituents that some telemarketing calls do not show the name or phone number of who is calling. This is especially problematic for consumers who have signed up for the do-not-call registry, since without the name of the telemarketer or the number from which they are calling it is difficult to report violations of the do-not-call law. This bill seeks to remedy that problem."
This new law has praise from a consumer's union, endrobocalls.org, that is advocating for legislation that requires phone companies to provide free tools to block robocalls.
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Court Rules Certain Components of CFPB Structure are Unconstitutional 10/25/2016
Court Rules Certain Components of CFPB Structure are Unconstitutional
10/25/2016 A court in Washington DC has ruled that the structure of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional. Unlike other federal agencies, the CFPB is headed by a single chair who cannot be removed at the President’s discretion. Federal regulatory agencies are usually headed by three to five commissioners that work together to run the agency or by a single commissioner that can be removed by the president.
Two of the three judges on the appeals panel agreed that too much unchecked authority had been given to the CFPB Director relative to other agencies. The judgement states: “The director enjoys significantly more unilateral power than any single member of any other independent agency. By ‘unilateral power,’ we mean power that is not checked by the President or by other colleagues.”
The court ruled that the director’s job could now be supervised or changed by the president at any time. The mission of the CFPB is to “make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole. We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law. We arm people with the information, steps, and tools that they need to make smart financial decisions.” The CFPB has recently been thought of as a regulatory agency that will play a large role in the future of the telemarketing industry. It is always nice to see a large agency like this be checked by the courts.
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FCC releases regulations regarding new government TCPA exemption 08/23/2016
FCC releases regulations regarding new government TCPA exemption
08/23/2016 On August 11, 2016, the FCC released long awaited behavioral rules and definitions clarifying Congress' newly passed exemption for calls relating to government-backed debts. As part of Congress' 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, they wrote themselves (the government) a TCPA exemption from a number of the autodialer and consent rules, including the rule requiring express consent for the calling of cell phones on an autodialer. As part of that exemption, Congress ordered the FCC to write behavioral rules to further define and flesh out the new statutory exemption. Congress gave the FCC a deadline of 9 months from the passing of the legislation containing the exemption. Earlier this month, the FCC released a 66-page Order containing the new rules. The FCC has a mandate to create administrative regulations and orders to interpret and clarify the TCPA. Among other things, the August 11 Order: defines the meaning of "covered calls;" defines "solely to collect a debt;" provides limits on the volume of exempt calls; provides time of day ("curfew") rules; clarified that the calls may be made by the creditor or its contractor; and provides opt-out rights and affirmative disclosure requirements. Government contractors who call on delinquent government-backed debt, such as certain student loans and mortgages, for example, should carefully review this Order to determine if they are affected. Covered contractors may safely take advantage of this exemption so long as the follow the new behavioral rules. Interestingly however, some of the Order's provisions are contradictory to a recent FCC Declaratory Ruling exempting the government and its authorized agents from the TCPA in an even broader way. The July, 2016 Broadnet ruling appears to have provided greater rights for government callers generally and it is not yet certain how the two FCC actions may be reconciled.
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FTC Raises Certain Fines to $40,000 a Pop! 07/05/2016
FTC Raises Certain Fines to $40,000 a Pop!
07/05/2016 The FTC, in order to adjust for inflation over the last several years, has raised the civil penalty for certain law violations from the previously large $16,000 amount, to a staggering $40,000. This is a per violation penalty, and adds up quickly when a company has even a minor error spread across a large volume of calls. Among other violations, it appears the $40,000 applies to violations of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule or TSR (including Do-Not-Call violations). Part of the penalty increase applies to violations of Section 5(m)(1)(a) of the FTC Act, which covers violations of the TSR. Prior to February of 2009, the penalty was $11,000. Since February of 2009, the fine had been $16,000. Effective August 1, 2016, the penalty for violating the TSR, including DNC violations, will be a harsh $40,000 per call/violation. All the more reason to have your compliance and scrubbing in place! Contact us for a free compliance evaluation today!
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FCC Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Certain Government Collection Calls 05/09/2016
FCC Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Certain Government Collection Calls
05/09/2016 Friday (May 6, 2016), the FCC formally released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the new government ATDS exemption for calls regarding government-backed debts, such as government backed student loans and mortgages, for example. This will also apply to certain tax debts. Recall that as part of the November 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, Congress amended the TCPA to exempt certain government collections calls from the TCPA's written consent autodialer requirement. This exemption applies only to calls solely to collect on a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States. As part of the NPRM, the FCC posed numerous questions for interested parties to comment on. A complete list can be found in the NPRM itself, found here, but of particular note are the following: (a) who may be called? (b) what should the limits be on the number and duration of calls? and (c) when and how should callers be provided with notice of their right to stop the calls? The FCC will take comments from the public and then will rule some time in the next several months. Stay tuned for more!
Find out how you can mitigate your risk of class action lawsuits - learn more about TCPA verification and Litigator Scrub. Contact us today for more information on our low rates and fast turnaround. TCPA NewsNew Legislation
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Changes to the TSR have now been published in the Federal Register 12/15/2015
Changes to the TSR have now been published in the Federal Register
12/15/2015 On December 14, 2015 the changes by the FTC to the TSR were published in the federal register. This means that we now know when the changes will go into effect.
The following changes will go into effect on June 13, 2016:
Revisions to § 310.4(a) (7)-(10) which include the new rules regarding remotely created payment orders and checks, cash-to-cash money transfers, and cash reload mechanisms.
Revisions to § 310.6 which limit certain exemptions as they relate to the payment methods described above.
All other changes are effective on February 12, 2016. These include:
Revisions to § 310.2 that define additional terms.
Revisions to § 310.3 which require that a description of the goods or services purchased must be included in the tape recording of a consumer’s express verifiable authorization to be charged.
Revisions to § 310.4 that:
illustrate the types of burdens that deny or interfere with a consumer’s right to be placed on a seller’s or telemarketer’s entity-specific do-not-call list;
expressly state that a seller or telemarketer has to demonstrate that it has an existing business relationship with, or has received an express written agreement from, a consumer it calls if the consumer’s number is on the DNC Registry; and
specify that if a seller or telemarketer does not get the information needed to place a consumer’s number on its entity-specific do-not-call list, the seller or telemarketer is disqualified from the safe harbor for isolated or accidental violations.
Revisions to § 310.6 that clarify the business-to-business exemption only applies when you are trying to sell goods to the other business, not to individual employees at the business.
Revisions to § 310.8 that emphasize that sellers are prohibited from sharing the cost of the fees to access the DNC Registry.
Read more about Changes to the TSR have now been published in the Federal Register
Pennsylvania proposes to limit debt collection calls to three total. 12/01/2015
Pennsylvania proposes to limit debt collection calls to three total.
12/01/2015 A Pennsylvania Senate Bill has been proposed that would significantly restrict the number of debt collection calls that can be made. The bill, which is now under review by the Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee, would limit the total number of times a debt collector can communicate with a debtor by telephone to three such communications. The proposed language reads as follows:
(b.1) Limitation on telephone contacts with consumers.—
(1) It shall constitute an unfair or deceptive debt collection act or practice under this act if a debt collector or creditor communicates with a consumer regarding a debt more than three times by telephone.
(2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit a debt collector or creditor from communicating with a consumer regarding a debt on a fourth or subsequent time by another form of communication, other than telephone.
Read more about Pennsylvania proposes to limit debt collection calls to three total.
FTC amends the Telemarketing Sales Rule 11/18/2015
FTC amends the Telemarketing Sales Rule
11/18/2015 FTC amends the Telemarketing Sales Rule
On November 18, 2015 the FTC announced changes to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”). The FTC’s changes are primarily directed towards protecting consumers from fraud, including by prohibiting telemarketers from using certain payment methods that legitimate telemarketing businesses don’t use, but con artists have been known to exploit. These payments methods include: remotely created checks, remotely created payment orders, cash-to-cash transfers, and cash reload mechanisms.
The FTC also modified the TSR to:
Expand the advance-fee ban on recovery services to include losses both in prior telemarketing and non-telemarketing transactions;
Require that a description of the goods or services purchased must be included in the tape recording of a consumer’s express verifiable authorization to be charged.
Expressly state that a seller or telemarketer has to demonstrate that it has an existing business relationship with, or has received an express written agreement from, a consumer it calls if the consumer’s number is on the DNC Registry;
Specify that if a seller or telemarketer does not get the information needed to place a consumer’s number on its entity-specific do-not-call list, the seller or telemarketer is disqualified from the safe harbor for isolated or accidental violations; and
Emphasize that sellers are prohibited from sharing the cost of the fees to access the DNC Registry.
Most of the changes to the TSR will become effective 60 days after publication. The full text of the FTC’s final rule is available here.
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Avoid Having your Company Show up on the FCC's Telemarketing and Robocall Complaint List 10/28/2015
Avoid Having your Company Show up on the FCC's Telemarketing and Robocall Complaint List
10/28/2015 On October 21, 2015 the FCC announced that they would begin publishing the telemarketing and robocall complaint data that they receive on a weekly basis. The complaint data is available here. This data will certainly be searched by professional plaintiff's who are looking for new business targets to go after.
Business should make sure that they are working with a compliance partner that can not only help them stay in full compliance, but also help them avoid calling known litigators and complainants. Contact us now to make sure you are taking advantage of all of the tools that are available to you including our exclusive litigator database of over 87,000 serial lawsuit filers just waiting for your next call or text to file a TCPA class action. Compliance UpdatesTCPA NewsTCPA Compliance TipsRegulatory EnforcementNew Legislation
Read more about Avoid Having your Company Show up on the FCC's Telemarketing and Robocall Complaint List
CFPB announces rule making proceedings to deal with mandatory arbitration clauses 10/08/2015
CFPB announces rule making proceedings to deal with mandatory arbitration clauses
10/08/2015 Acting in compliance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has completed their study on the use of arbitration clauses in connection with consumer financial products or services, and is beginning the process of issuing regulations restricting the use of certain arbitration clauses in contracts relating to financial products and services. In their study, the CFPB found that in the consumer finance markets studied very few consumers individually seek relief through arbitration or the federal courts, while millions of consumers are eligible for relief each year through group settlements.
The proposal under consideration would prohibit companies from blocking class action lawsuits through the use of arbitration clauses in their contracts. This would apply to most consumer financial products and services that the CFPB oversees, including credit cards, checking and deposit accounts, prepaid cards, money transfer services, certain auto loans, auto title loans, small dollar or payday loans, private student loans, and installment loans.
Read more about CFPB announces rule making proceedings to deal with mandatory arbitration clauses
Dish Network Files Motion for New Trial in TCPA Class Action The Making of a TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Marketers Claim Victory with Dismissal of TCPA Case in California Contact