The New York State Senate

                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  10043

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              March 5, 2020
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  DenDEKKER  --  read once and referred to the
  Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection

AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to including elec-
  tronic messaging texts as a form of telemarketing communication

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. Paragraphs h, i, j, k, l and m of subdivision 1 of section
399-z of the general business law, as amended by chapter 369 of the laws
of 2012 and paragraph k as amended and paragraphs l and m of subdivision
1 as added by chapter 484 of the laws of 2016, are  amended  and  a  new
paragraph n is added to read as follows:
  h.  "Telemarketer"  means  any  person  who,  for  financial profit or
commercial purposes in connection with telemarketing, makes  telemarket-
ing  sales  calls  OR  ELECTRONIC MESSAGING TEXTS to a customer when the
customer is in this state or any person who directly controls or  super-
vises  the  conduct of a telemarketer. For the purposes of this section,
"commercial purposes" shall mean the sale or offer for sale of goods  or
services;
  i.  "Telemarketing"  means  any  plan,  program  or  campaign  that is
conducted to induce payment or the exchange of any  other  consideration
for  any goods or services that involves more than one telephone call OR
ELECTRONIC MESSAGING TEXT by a telemarketer in  which  the  customer  is
located within the state at the time of the call. Telemarketing does not
include  the solicitation of sales through media other than by telephone
calls OR ELECTRONIC MESSAGING TEXTS and does not include calls OR  ELEC-
TRONIC  MESSAGING  TEXTS intended to implement or complete a transaction
to which the customer has previously consented;
  j. "Telemarketing sales call" means a  telephone  call  OR  ELECTRONIC
MESSAGING  TEXT  made DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY by a telemarketer or by any
outbound  telephone  calling  technology  that  delivers  a  prerecorded
message  to a customer or to a customer's voicemail or answering machine
service, IN WHICH SUCH TELEPHONE CALL OR ELECTRONIC  MESSAGING  TEXT  IS
for the purpose of inducing payment or the exchange of any other consid-
eration for any goods or services;

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD15717-01-0

A. 10043                            2

  k.  "Unsolicited  telemarketing  sales  call"  means any telemarketing
sales call OR ELECTRONIC MESSAGING TEXT other than [a call made]:
  (i) in response to an express written or verbal request by the custom-
er; or
  (ii)  in  connection  with an established business relationship, which
has not been terminated by either party, unless such customer has stated
to the telemarketer that such customer no longer wishes to  receive  the
telemarketing sales calls of such telemarketer;
  l. "Caller identification information" means information provided by a
caller identification service regarding the telephone number and name of
the person calling; [and]
  m. "Caller identification service" means a service that allows a tele-
phone  subscriber  to  have  the telephone number, and, where available,
name of the calling party transmitted contemporaneously with  the  tele-
phone  call,  and displayed on a device in or connected to the subscrib-
er's telephone[.]; AND
  N. "ELECTRONIC MESSAGING TEXT" MEANS REAL-TIME OR NEAR REAL-TIME  NON-
VOICE  MESSAGES  IN TEXT FORM OVER COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, AND INCLUDES
THE TRANSMISSION OF WRITING, SIGNS, SIGNALS, PICTURES, AND SOUNDS OF ALL
KINDS BY AID OF WIRE, CABLE OR OTHER LIKE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE  POINTS
OF ORIGIN AND RECEPTION OF SUCH TRANSMISSION.
  §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
have become a law.