Bill That Makes No Call List Permanent Leaves Committee

A bill that would merge the Wisconsin No Call List with the national registry was voted out of committee on Tuesday.

The bill would make registration on a No Call List permanent. Currently, state law requires consumers to renew their registration every two years.

Sandy Chalmers, an official with the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, says people often forget to renew. “It would be a real benefit to consumers to sign up once and be done as long as they had that phone number.”

State Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Middleton, supports the bill but hopes to add to it. She’s pushing for two amendments, one of which would increase the fine for a violation. The current fine in the bill is no more than $100.

“I’m not so sure $100 is a deterrent to anybody when they can make a lot of money by ignoring the rule,” says Pope.

The second amendment Pope is suggesting addresses what she thinks was a simple oversight: The current bill only covers telephone numbers with Wisconsin area codes. But she would like it to include the wireless numbers of people who have a Wisconsin address but out-of-state area codes.

“I’m going to vote for the bill as it is, but I would just like to make it a little bit better,” says Pope.

A similar bill was voted out of committee in the Senate this spring.