State officials are urging residents to contact the federal government as part of an effort to keep New Jersey’s Do Not Call Law intact.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey recently unveiled a Web site, www.nj.gov/protectdonotcall, to make it easier for residents to send messages directly to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Codey and other state officials reported that telemarketing companies are asking the FCC to overturn New Jersey’s and other state’s no-call laws, specifically so that they can continue calling residents who have done business with their companies within the last 18 months.
“Millions of New Jerseyans have added their names to the state no-call list because they want their phone numbers taken out of reach of all telemarketers, with no exceptions,” state Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein said.
More than 2.8 million New Jerseyans have added their phone numbers to the state registry since its inception. The law, authored by Greenstein, gives New Jersey the toughest anti-telemarketing statute in the country, the assemblywoman said.
Greenstein said New Jersey’s law is so strong because it removed the loophole making it easy for telemarketers to continue contacting previous customers. She described it as the most important law in consumer law history, and one that draws positive feedback on it every day.
“We keep having different challenges on different [grounds]. This FCC challenge deals with telemarketers by carving out exceptions that … most states left out,” Greenstein said.
— Andrea Olivio