Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105

For Immediate Release: June 27, 2003

Audio Clip

Senator Keith Leftwich

Sen. Leftwich praises federal no-call law but says
it has more exemptions than Oklahoma law

The federal do-not-call legislation that went into effect Friday is important but contains more exemptions than those included in Oklahoma’s do-not-call law, according to Sen. Keith Leftwich, D-OKC.

Along with Rep. Jim Newport, R-Ponca City, Sen. Leftwich sponsored key legislation this session that will automatically forward the names of nearly 500,000 Oklahomans who registered with the state’s do-not-call list before June 1 to the Federal Trade Commission’s new list.

However, Leftwich said it is unnecessary for those who register on the state list after June 1 to sign up on the federal list. He said Oklahomans who sign up on the state list will maximize their protection from unwanted telemarketing calls.

“The new FTC list says a lot in terms of what we’ve done in Oklahoma, and we should be proud that our state took the lead on this type of legislation. However, our law contains fewer exemptions than the federal law.

“I encourage Oklahomans who haven’t registered with a do-not-call list yet to simply sign up on the state list. Our law has a few more teeth than the federal version, and I think it currently offers superior protection for consumers,” Leftwich said.

Some of the exemptions contained in the federal legislation include long-distance telephone companies, airlines, banks, credit unions and insurance companies operating under state regulation. The FTC rules also exempt intrastate telemarketing calls.

Leftwich said that Oklahoma’s law does not exempt the business types exempted under the federal law, nor does it allow an exemption for in-state telemarketers.

“Some of the federal exemptions surprise me because they cover many of the areas where I receive the most complaints from constituents. Fortunately, Oklahoma’s law doesn’t contain these exemptions,” Leftwich said.

In a meeting Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to adopt most sections of the FTC’s new Telemarketing Sales Rule, which will eventually extend the do-not-call list to areas currently exempted from the federal list. Leftwich said that Oklahomans will be able to protect themselves in the meantime by registering with Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office.

“Our attorney general and his staff have done an outstanding job protecting consumers. I want Oklahomans to know that they can continue to use the state do-not-call list and feel confident that they are getting a higher level of protection than what the federal law currently offers.

“By the same token, I am also encouraged by the FCC’s decision to toughen the federal law. It just goes to show how Oklahoma’s law has served as an important example of what we’ve needed on a national scale for quite some time,” Leftwich added.

Leftwich said those who also want to register with the FTC list will have until August 31 to include their numbers in the first version. Telemarketing firms will be required to purge those numbers from their calling lists by October 1.


For more information, contact:
Senate Communications Division - (405) 521-5774