 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
unsolicited fax advertisements in your fax machine? Personally, it is one of my pet peeves. I estimate that each junk fax I receive costs me $.25 in paper and toner. Also, some faxes have tied up my machine when I have needed to send something out or while waiting to receive something important. The following article is about how direct marketing fax companies stalled a bill in the California State Legislature that would impose a $500 fine for each page of an unsolicitied fax. |
|
From the San Diego Union Tribune
Lobbying stalls bill to ban 'junk faxes'
By Michael Gardner
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
June 26, 2001
SACRAMENTO -- There's a greeting card that jokes: "Birthdays are like faxes. You see 'em coming, but you can't stop 'em."
To many California businesses, however, it's no laughing matter. Pitches for cheap vacations, office supplies and cell phones can hog fax time, drain toner and use up paper.
"You're paying for them to try and sell you something you usually don't want," said Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who introduced AB 839 to ban unsolicited faxes.
After breezing through the Assembly, the measure was derailed yesterday in a Senate committee following a furious late campaign by the fax industry and its lobbyists. Facing certain defeat, Lowenthal agreed to wait until August before forcing a vote.
Unlike intrusive telemarketers and junk mail, which courts protect as commercial free speech, unsolicited faxes fall into a gray area of the law.
Congress responded by banning junk faxes in 1991. But a company attorney at fax.com, an industry leader, said Congress gave states leeway to set less stringent standards.
California only requires a marketer to include a toll-free telephone number for recipients who want to stop further contact by fax.
That annoys Davis businesswoman Emi Guerrero, who vainly contacted several firms seeking to stop unsolicited faxes.
"There's no point in calling," said the frustrated Guerrero. "It's constant junk faxes using our paper and our toner."
Shoe manufacturer Vans Inc. and numerous individuals have filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against several firms that specialize in fax marketing.
"They are using your money to promote their product," said attorney Nicholas Connon.
But a fax.com official said claims of excessive costs and inconvenience are overblown.
Fax industry officials say the legal bans won't hold up in court because the faxes are constitutionally protected as commercial free speech.
"It's unconstitutional. It goes too far," said David Felsenthal, an attorney for fax.com, which can transmit more than 2 million advertisements a day.
Lisa Goldkuhl, one of the Legislature's lawyers, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and other courts across the country have upheld the federal ban.
"The 9th Circuit would trump any lower court," she said.
Ignoring her opinion, Democrats on the Senate Business and Professions Committee said they still wanted to wait for the Los Angeles court hearing set for July 30.
The committee's stand stunned Lowenthal. "I'm absolutely appalled," he told the panel.
Later, Lowenthal suggested he was beaten by high-priced lobbyists.
"Money hurt me," Lowenthal said. "They (lawmakers) all hid behind 'let's wait.' I'm just blown away by the integrity of the process."
Fax.com attorney Felsenthal attacked Lowenthal for not divulging the genesis of the bill earlier. Jack Findlay, publisher of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, had asked Lowenthal to consider legislation conforming state law to stricter federal regulations.
"What he is trying to do is eliminate any form of competition through the law," Felsenthal said of Findlay.
Felsenthal said the industry is willing to pay for a database of those who don't want to be contacted. Fines would be levied for sending faxes to numbers on the list.
But Lowenthal balked, arguing that proposal still puts the burden on the consumer and does not guarantee all marketers will comply. His bill would fine senders $500 for each page.
Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
