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2023 SESSION

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23101790D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1504 Offered January 11, 2023 Prefiled January 3, 2023 A BILL to amend and reenact § 59.1-514 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act; telephone solicitation call via text message. ---------- Patron-- Orrock ---------- Referred to Committee on Commerce and Energy ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 59.1-514 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 59.1-514. Unwanted telephone solicitation calls prohibited.

A. No telephone solicitor shall initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation call to a telephone number when a person at such telephone number previously has stated that he does not wish to receive a telephone solicitation call made by or on behalf of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation call is being made. Such statement may be made to a telephone solicitor or to the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation call is being made if that person is different from the telephone solicitor. For a telephone solicitation call via text message, such statement may be made by responding to the text message with words such as "STOP," "UNSUBSCRIBE," or "OPT OUT" or similar words indicating that the person does not want to receive such telephone solicitation calls. Any such request not to receive telephone solicitation calls shall be honored for at least 10 years from the time the request is made.

B. No telephone solicitor shall initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation call to a telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the federal government pursuant to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310, and 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200.

C. It shall be an affirmative defense in any action brought under § 59.1-515 or 59.1-517 for a violation of this section that the defendant has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitation calls in violation of this section, including using in accordance with applicable federal regulations a version of the National Do Not Call Registry obtained from the administrator of the registry no more than 31 days prior to the date any telephone solicitation call is made.

D. For purposes of this section, "telephone solicitation call" shall not include a telephone call made to any person: (i) with that person's prior express invitation or permission as evidenced by a signed, written agreement stating that the person agrees to be contacted by or on behalf of a specific party and including the telephone number to which the call may be placed, (ii) with whom the person on whose behalf the telephone call is made has an established business relationship, or (iii) with whom the telephone solicitor making the telephone call has a personal relationship. The exemption for an established business relationship or a personal relationship shall not apply when the person called previously has stated that he does not wish to receive telephone solicitation calls as provided in subsection A.