An Act To Prohibit the Providing of Misleading or Inaccurate Information via Caller Identification Services during Telemarketing Calls
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 0348
Committee: Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business
Sponsors: TIPPING, MIRAMANT, RILEY, ROBERTS-LOVELL, RYKERSON, MILLETT
Amends: 10 MRSA §1499-A

Legislative Document
No. 348
H.P. 274
House of Representatives, January 24, 2019
An Act To Prohibit the Providing of Misleading or Inaccurate 
Information via Caller Identification Services during Telemarketing 
Calls
Reference to the Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and 
Business suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative TIPPING of Orono.
Cosponsored by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox and
Representatives: RILEY of Jay, ROBERTS-LOVELL of South Berwick, RYKERSON of 
Kittery, Senator: MILLETT of Cumberland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §1499-A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 70, §1 and affected by §2, 
is amended to read:
§1499-A.  Telemarketing; prohibition on number blocking and misleading caller 
identification
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings.
A.  "Caller identification service" means a service that allows a telephone subscriber 
to have the telephone number and, where available, name of the calling party 
transmitted contemporaneously with the telephone call and displayed on a device in 
or connected to the subscriber's telephone.
B.  "Seller" means any person who, in connection with a telemarketing transaction, 
provides, offers to provide or arranges for others to provide goods or services to the 
customer in exchange for consideration.
C.  "Telemarketer" means any person who, in connection with telemarketing, initiates 
or receives telephone calls to or from a customer or donor.
D.  "Telemarketing" means a plan, program or campaign that is conducted by use of 
one or more telephones or other telecommunications services, including 
interconnected voice over Internet protocol, to induce the purchase of goods or 
services or a charitable contribution and that involves more than one intrastate 
telephone call.  "Telemarketing" does not include the solicitation of sales through the 
mailing of a catalog that contains a written description or illustration of the goods or 
services offered for sale, the business address of the seller and multiple pages of 
written material or illustrations, and that is issued not less frequently than once a 
year, if the person making the solicitation does not solicit customers by telephone but 
only receives calls initiated by customers in response to the catalog and during those 
calls takes orders without further solicitation.  For purposes of this paragraph, the 
term "further solicitation" does not include providing the customer with information 
about, or attempting to sell, any other item included in the same catalog that 
prompted the customer's call or in a substantially similar catalog.
2.  Prohibition.  Except as provided in subsection 3, it is an unfair trade practice, as 
prohibited by Title 5, section 207, for a seller or telemarketer to fail to transmit or cause 
to be transmitted the telephone number and, when made available by the telemarketer's 
carrier, the name of the telemarketer to any caller identification service in use by a 
recipient of a telemarketing call.
2-A.  Misleading or inaccurate caller identification information prohibited; 
penalty.  A seller or telemarketer may not knowingly cause any caller identification 
service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the 
intent to defraud or cause harm to another person or to wrongfully obtain anything of 
value.  In addition to any other penalty provided by this section, a person found guilty of 
violating this subsection commits a civil violation for which a fine of not less than $500 
for the first offense and not less than $1,000 for any subsequent offense must be adjudged 
and for which the seller or telemarketer must pay restitution of any financial benefit 
secured through conduct proscribed by this subsection.
3.  Exception.  It is not a violation of subsection 2 or 2-A for a seller or telemarketer 
to substitute for the name and telephone number used in or billed for making the call:
A.  
The name of the seller or charitable organization on whose behalf the 
telemarketing call is placed; and
B.  The seller's or charitable organization's customer or donor service telephone 
number that is answered during regular business hours.
SUMMARY
This bill makes it a civil violation for a seller or telemarketer engaging in a 
telemarketing call to knowingly cause any caller identification service to transmit 
misleading or inaccurate caller identification with the intent to defraud or cause harm to 
another person or to wrongfully obtain anything of value.  It establishes a fine of not less 
than $500 for the first offense and of not less than $1,000 for any subsequent offense to 
be imposed in addition to any other penalties imposed under the law regarding 
telemarketing and caller identification and requires restitution to be paid.