Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bill Requiring Telemarketers to Check Numbers Advances in Maine, (Mar 13, 2024)
The Maine state House this week advanced a bill that would amend the law related to telephone solicitations to require a telephone solicitor to use the FCC’s reassigned numbers database to verify that a consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned prior to initiating a telephone sales call to that consumer.
LD 2234 specifies that it would be a violation for a telephone solicitor to initiate a telephone sales call to a consumer if that consumer's telephone number has been on the national or state do-not-call registry for at least three months prior to the call, or the solicitor has failed to “use the reassigned numbers database to verify that a consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned prior to initiating a telephone sales call to that consumer.”
The “reassigned numbers database” is a database created and maintained by the FCC that identifies whether a telephone number has been reassigned.
The Public Utilities Commission said in testimony that the bill could help curb the use of rented telephone numbers and cut down on illegal robocalling.
“The problems and challenges we face with robocalling and unwanted calls require a multi-faceted approach. LD 2234 provides our state with one more tool to protect Maine consumers from unwanted calls,” the commission said.
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