A brief but notable state telemarketing development for everyone who follows calling and text messaging laws. Earlier this month, the Maine Legislature passed legislation (L.D. 2234) designed to help curb telemarketing calls to state residents who do not want to receive them. On March 25, 2024, the Maine governor signed the bill into law. Specifically, Maine has amended its Telephone Solicitation Act, 10 M.R.S.A. § 1499-B, to prohibit telemarketers from placing "telephone sales calls" without first accessing and scrubbing against the National Reassigned Number Database. Section 6 of the Act now prohibits (new language underlined):
[I]nitiat[ing] a telephone sales call to a consumer if that consumer's telephone number has been on the national or state do-not-call registry, established by the Federal Trade Commission, for at least 3 months prior to the date the call is made or to fail 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.
In other words, in order to place solicitation calls in Maine, a telemarketer should scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry—a good compliance practice anyway—but must scrub against the National Reassigned Number Database, prior to placing such calls.
Notably, the Maine Telephone Solicitation Act "does not apply to," among other things, telemarketing calls "made in response to and at the express request of the person called" or "to any person with whom the telephone solicitor has an established business relationship." The statute also contains a safe harbor nearly identical to the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act's do not call safe harbor, but the state safe harbor also (now) requires scrubbing against the National Reassigned Number Database. Finally, while there are hefty civil penalties that may be awarded for violations of the Maine law (not more than $10,000 for the first violation and up to $25,000 for each subsequent violation), there is no private right of action; the Act is enforced by the Maine attorney general. Nonetheless, it's never a good idea to cross paths with a regulator either. And, it appears that the state attorney general will be active in enforcing the amended law. In fact, the Legislature's Fiscal Note accompanying the bill notes that "[t]his bill may increase the number of civil suits filed in the court system."
Stay tuned for more state and federal calling and text law developments. If you'd like to hear about those in person, we invite you to attend Steptoe LLP's inaugural Advertising and Consumer Protection Legal Forum on May 9, 2024 in Washington, DC where we will be discussing all things telemarketing and contact compliance that afternoon. Registration and event information is available here.
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