By Matt Sepic, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – When the General Assembly reconvenes in January the Missouri Legislature will again try to toughen the state's no call law. More than 2 million people have added their home phone numbers to a list telemarketers are forbidden to call
The law forbids telemarketers from phoning people who have put their numbers on the list. However cell and fax numbers are exempt. And some businesses and political groups are too.
State representative Jane Cunningham has filed bills in past sessions that would have added cell and fax lines. Now the Chesterfield Republican would like to ban political campaigns from using automatically dialed recorded messages.
"When I was going around to the polls meeting voters, that's the comment I heard more than anything," says Cunningham. "People were so frustrated with all the political phone calls they received, as was I. So I promised people that I would add that to the bill I put in before."
Cunningham says she has used autodialers once before-not for a political campaign-but to let her constituents know about the sales tax holiday lawmakers passed in 2004.
Legislators have tried beefing up the no-call law before. Both this year and in 2004 the state Senate passed measures that would have added cell and fax numbers, but both times the bills died in the House.